From Phoenix to La Push
by jacobsangel88
Summary: Bella is in La Push for the summer with Charlie who has just become their new Chief of Police. She doesn't want to go, but after a few days she feels like she fits in more there than she does back home, possibly thanks to a few choice friends and feelings that may suddenly emerge. AH
1. Chapter 1 Summertime Blues

"From Phoenix to La Push"

**Hey guys! This is my first story on Fanfiction so I hope you enjoy it! ****I've been reading stories on here for months now that I've lost count of the ones I've read. I've just recently joined because I want to be a beta, but since I have to write first, I figured I'd see if I could open up some of my creative genes lol. **

**This story is all human and it's about Bella spending the summer with Charlie, who just bought a house in La Push since he's the new Chief of Police there. Obviously she's not happy about this, since she hasn't been to visit her dad in a while. I'm very open to suggestions as to how you want the story to go. I haven't completely decided on every detail yet, so let me know what you would like to see.**

**And without further ado:**

Chapter 1: Summertime Blues

Song for this chapter: "Summertime Blues" by Alan Jackson **(I'm not that much of a country fan, it just fits :)**

"Bella, you're going to love it there! When your dad and I were married, that beach was one of our favorite hangouts!"

I know my mom was just trying to comfort me and make this trip more bearable, but she was only making my mood worse.

"I'm sure it was mom, but that was like a billion years ago. Besides, I'm not going so I can enjoy the beach; I'm going there to make Charlie happy. He seemed so excited last week when he called, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I couldn't care less about seeing his new house."

My dad, Charlie, had called a week ago and spoke to my mom, Renee, gushing about this house he had bought in La Push, the beach about 30 minutes away from where he use to live in Forks, Washington.

Apparently, La Push had become a popular tourist attraction lately calling for more real estate to be built and the police force to be expanded, you know, for those late night bonfires. I rolled my eyes at that one. Anyway, my dad (being a friend of some of their locals) had been recommended for the Chief of Police job at the La Push Police Department. Even though he had been perfectly content as Chief of Police in Forks, he decided that a change of scenery wouldn't be so bad, so he accepted the job.

With Charlie living at least a half hour away from La Push, he looked into houses closer to his new station and settled on one that was being built directly next to his best friend Billy Black. I remembered Billy. I also remembered Sarah, his wife, who died when I was younger. They had three kids, twin girls and a boy who was my age. Billy was like the sun; he could always make me smile. I was kind of looking forward to seeing him again.

Charlie had arranged for me to fly out the week after he called to stay the summer and break in the new house. The house had three bedrooms, and two bathrooms, now finally we didn't have to share the sink. School had ended the day before yesterday, so here I was packing my bags to head off to what was promising to be the most unbearable summer I've ever experienced. I hadn't visited my dad's turf in over five years.

"Just imagine, Bella, now you'll have your own bathroom and he even painted your room purple because he knows it's your favorite color. There are plenty of kids down there your age, so I hear. But if you still hate it, give me a call and I'll have you on the first flight back." Mom practically recited this as if she'd been planning that speech all day. I don't think I heard her take a breath.

"Well, just be ready for that phone call the day after I get there then." I retorted.

"Bellaaaaaaaa, at least give it two or three weeks" she whined. "You'll never know if you love it or not if you just sit in the house and sulk, so please promise me that you'll get out and have fun and try to meet other people your age."

"Yeah, because I'm so good at that" I said sarcastically.

"People love you when they get to know you, but you have to open up sweetie."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay mom, I'll try."

She turned to walk out of my room, "If you do, you never know what kind of relationships could develop from it."

After she left, I pondered over that statement. What kind of relationships did I need? I had a few friends here, an okay boyfriend, and my mom & Phil. Why would I want to build something I would have to leave and give up at the end of the summer?

I zipped up my last bag and put it with the three others sitting in front of my closet. I changed into my pj's and set my alarm for 5 a.m. I had an early flight tomorrow which meant I had a long day ahead of me, and possibly an even longer summer.

**I know this chapter wasn't that long, but I want to test the waters with this story first. Please review, whether you think it's good or bad, and let me know if it seems like a pretty good foundation. I have other chapters written, but I'll update when I get some feedback. Right now my goal is to update once a week. Hopefully, you'll see the next chapter soon!**

**Angela**


	2. Chapter 2 I have arrived

**Chapter 2: I have arrived**

**Song: "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay I encourage you to listen if you're in to soundtracks for each chapter**

**The bold in this chapter will be the lyrics I associated with it. **

**Also, I got NO reviews last chapter, some alerts, but no reviews, so I just kept what I already had in lieu of chapter 2. I would appreciate any feedback you have since this is my first story. Let me know if you wanna see anything and I may try to incorporate it in. I wasn't going to hold out until I got reviews because it's already been a week, but I would welcome anything. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

The plane ride from Phoenix to Seattle was very uneventful. I sat there with my copy of _Wuthering Heights_ thinking back to last week after I had gotten my phone call from Charlie when I told my friends and my boyfriend, Chad, that I'd be leaving for the summer.

_Flashback-1 week earlier_

"But you told us you didn't even like it there! You haven't been for the summer since you were like 12 or 13," Kelly screamed at me, her eyes as round as saucers.

"I know, but Charlie's so excited about his new house and I need to help him finish moving all of my stuff out of the old house anyway. Mom's going to spend more time with Phil at practices and games since she's missed so many staying home with me. So everybody kind of wins."

"Except for you," Donna chimed in.

I didn't say anything. I knew she was right, but I could handle a few miserable months if it would make Mom, Dad, and Phil happy.

Kelly and Donna were the closest friends I had here in Phoenix. I wasn't what you would call "popular." I was the quiet type, so I didn't join clubs or play sports. We three had met just by simply having a few classes here and there together. I enjoyed their company when I wanted someone around, but I wouldn't miss them terribly over the summer. Sounds bad, I know.

Chad had been quiet since I broke the news. We weren't what you would call a talkative couple. We would speak a few words in between classes, he'd sit beside me at lunch (usually without anything to say), and we'd talk on the phone maybe once or twice a week for about ten minutes at a time. Our dating seemed like a convenience for the most part.

Chad was cute, my height, brown hair, and green eyes…..but he had the personality of a rock. He was Kelly's cousin and she had mentioned to me last fall that he thought I was pretty and wanted to date me. I'm 16 and I still thought it was sort of childish for him not to tell me himself. Nevertheless, we started dating after Kelly constantly badgered me about how cute we'd be together.

He drives me to and from school everyday and then he carries my books in between classes, which in a 50's movie is cute, but nowadays, it's so annoying. We've been dating for about 7 or 8 months and as far as we've gone is a peck on the lips, which is fine with me considering he does nothing for me in _that _way whatsoever.

"So, Chad are you okay with this whole thing?" I asked as he drove me home after I gave him, Kelly, and Donna the news.

"I guess so," he said, staring straight ahead at the road, emotionless.

"Are you mad?"

"No, you're coming back."

"What are you going to do all summer without me?" I asked.

"Hmm, probably space camp."

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Yeah right. I don't know why it surprised me that Chad didn't care. He was only passionate about a few things, one of which included space, or astronomy, or whatever you call it. But me, yeah, I wasn't one of those things.

He dropped me off at my house without getting out of the car and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. Yeah, a born romantic, huh? I couldn't believe this was how he was leaving our goodbye when he wouldn't see me for two and a half months.

_End flashback_

"**How long before I get in,**

**before it starts, before I begin**

**how long before you decide**

**before I know what it feels like"**

I came back to the present as the plane was landing. As I was walking through the terminal, I spotted a huge pink sign with BELLA written across it. I blushed so bad I bet I looked like I had sunburn. Under the sign was my dad all smiles and as I got closer I noticed Billy Black looking just as cheerful as the last time I had seen him, holding a russet colored wolf in his lap.

"Bella! Over here! Over here!" My dad practically yelled. Yeah, like I could miss him.

"Hey dad. Hey Billy, you didn't have to come. From what I hear, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other now considering we're neighbors." Billy smiled at that.

"Well someone had to keep Charlie here straight. He almost plowed me into a few pedestrians running through here." He let out a hearty laugh and I couldn't help but laugh with him.

"You're exaggerating old man" Charlie said, but he joined in laughing too. "If I remember correctly, you're the one that said 'Just push through them, they'll move.' I was just following orders."

We all three laughed at that too. I could just see my dad wheeling Billy through throngs of people at the airport, men, women, and children jumping out of the way so as to not get ran over by two middle-aged men. It made me feel kind of touched that they were so excited to see me.

"Let's get your bags and head out. Maybe we can stop by the old house for a half hour or so to let you get anything together you want to bring to the new house right away." Charlie suggested.

"Ok sure." Yet I wasn't certain what would be there that I would need.

As we were heading to get my bags, Billy handed me the stuffed wolf he was holding in his lap, explaining it was a welcome home present from "all of us." I muttered my thanks wondering who all he meant.

"**Where to? **

**Where do I go?**

**If you've never tried**

**Then you'll never know"**

The old house seemed eerie without all the furniture and pictures downstairs. As I went up to my old room, I grabbed the box Charlie had left in the hall in front of my door. The room looked the same as always: pale yellow walls with posters covering each one. Dad had moved my bed out, probably to the new house.

My desk was still there, which didn't surprise me. Moving a desk would require cleaning it out first, and I learned long ago that it made Charlie very uncomfortable to come close to my personal belongings.

So the desk is where I started. I cleared out all the notebooks, pencils, markers, paint sets, sketch pads, and a few old photo albums lingering around in there. After dumping all these into the box, I emptied the small closet and the old dresser which contained all the clothes I had previously worn around here. Just by looking at them, I knew over half would be donated to Goodwill considering they were either too small or too out of style for me to even attempt to wear.

After getting a few more things from my bedroom (a small lamp, a blanket my grandmother had made me, and an extra hairbrush) I headed downstairs dragging the box behind me.

"Here, I'll get it," Charlie called as he saw me. He barely made it a few feet without dropping it here and there. I winced every time I heard the lamp rattle. After ten minutes of pushing the box into the backseat of the cruiser that had "La Push Police Dept." on the side, the box finally settled behind the driver's seat seeing as there was no room in the trunk because of my luggage.

The drive to La Push didn't take long. I spent the time listening to Charlie and Billy talk about all the current events around these parts. Apparently, the La Push church had hired a new minister and the Lodge had just hired a new waitress. Yep, that was about it.

"Bella, we're having a cookout tonight at our house to celebrate the start of summer…..and you coming to visit of course." Billy broke through my train of thoughts.

"Oh? I don't really know anybody around here too well though." I reminded him.

"Well, you'll have the Clearwaters to meet, the Uley's, the Chase's, the Ateara's, the Call's, and the Weber's. I'm sure Jacob will have all his friends there. You'll at least know Jacob and me." Each name Billy listed made me want to vomit even more.

"Jacob? Your son, right?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you probably haven't seen him in about 8 years or so. You're the same age, remember?"

"I just remember going fishing with you guys a few times and Jacob being a big daredevil and jumping off the docks."

"Well, Bella I distinctly remember you pushing him in once. Your excuse was he tried to kiss you…..again." My dad chimed in, trying to hold back a smile.

"Again? When was the first time?" I was confused.

"Beats me, but that's all you said."

This subject was becoming uncomfortable fast, so I decided to change it. "So when's this cookout suppose to start?"

Dad answered, "I told all the neighbors around 7:30, to give us some time to get settled in."

Great, I thought. A whole hour to get "settled in." I hate crowds and meeting new people. I felt like tonight I would be completely in the spotlight, the place I had planned to avoid all summer, and here I was getting thrown into it my first night here.

"**Climb up, up in the trees**

**every chance you get**

**is a chance you seize**

**How long am I gonna stand**

**With my head stuck under the stand**

**I'll start before I can stop**

**Before I can see things the right way up…"**

_**Authors Note: **_**Check out the song if you like the lyrics. I didn't use all of them obviously, just ones that stuck out to me for the chapter. As you can see, this chapter is longer than the first and probably a better vision for how long the others will be, which will probably be longer.**

**Just some interesting facts about the upcoming story: I've got some ideas on some things that HAVE to happen, so minor details aren't sorted out so I'm willing to take suggestions, and I plan on using all of the original characters somehow, someway in this story. All the Cullen's will not be siblings, they came from different places and that's how I will portray it. I'm going to try to focus on Bella's relationships with everybody too, not with just a few people here and there.**

**Please review, it will definitely help me write faster. I had no driving force behind me to post this chapter, so it was kind of hard to want to post, but I did, convincing myself that this is a new story so not a lot of readers yet. Hope to post again next Wednesday! **


	3. Chapter 3 Introductions

**Chapter 3: Introductions**

**Song: "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects**

**It's Wednesday again everybody. Thanks to _EdwardsElla _who was the only one leave me reviews so far. I pretty sure I have anonymous reviews allowed so don't let that stop you. In this chapter, we get introduced to a few lovable characters, laying the ground work for future chapters. Like I've said previously, I'm aiming to include all Twilight characters that I deem important. If you have any ideas how you would like to see them used, I'd be happy to listen to any suggestions. So without any further delays, here's chapter 3: **

We pulled up to a small brown house situated directly to the left of the small red house I remembered to be the Black's. The brown house, which I assumed to be Charlie's, was a little bigger, but still only one story and freshly painted. On the other side of Charlie's house was a newly-built beige one that had a teenage girl sitting on its porch and talking on the phone. My first emotion upon seeing her was relief. She was a white girl. I know that sounds crazy, but La Push being known as a Native American reservation had made me quite nervous about being the only "pale face" on its lands. The family in the beige house seemed to be moving in too, judging by the fact that half of the front porch was loaded down with moving boxes. More relief, I wasn't the only newbie.

Charlie had jumped out of the car as soon as he put it in park and was rushing around to my door to pull me out. He was beaming. I don't know the last time I saw him this happy.

"Well what do you think honey? Isn't it just great? I can't wait until you see the inside, it's even better!" All I managed was to give him a half-hearted smile.

Charlie helped Billy get out of the car and into his wheelchair. As he was doing this I noticed how extremely close the three houses in front of me seemed to be to each other. I bet a car could squeeze between them, but there was no way you'd be able to open the doors. I hope these people don't snore loud, or I'd be up all night. This was absolutely ridiculous.

The house wasn't half bad. The front door opened up into the living room and to the left the kitchen opened up along with a pretty spacious dining room. There was one long hallway down the center of the house and my room was at the very end on the right. I walked around my room checking everything out. My bed had been placed in the middle of the room, the headboard against the wall. There was still room for my desk and dresser which was a plus. I had two windows in my room, one that faced the backyard and seemed to lead to a decent-sized back porch, and the other faced the red house next door. The closet seemed twice as big as any I'd ever had, but that may have been because it was empty: which reminded me I still had my luggage and that box in the car.

I walked by Charlie and Billy who were in the living room debating whether to get a _new_ flatscreen to go with the _new_ house. I laughed as I stepped outside and marched toward the cruiser. Instead of getting the easier stuff out first from the trunk, I attempted to dislodge the stupid box Charlie had somehow managed to get in the backseat, but it wasn't even budging.

After 10 or 15 minutes struggling with it, I was finally going to have to drop my pride and ask Charlie to come get it. After a final useless pull, I groaned and looked up towards the sound of a screen door shutting. My eyes fell on three—there's no other way to describe them—_huge_ guys walking out of the Black's house. Guy #1, who came out first, was slightly shorter than the other two, but not by much. He had short, yet thick hair that was somewhat spiked. He was a bit more built than Guy #2, who was about two inches taller with even shorter hair. Guy #2 had a smile on his face that seemed permanently placed there. There was something about Guy #1's demeanor that I couldn't quite place my finger on (shyness, maybe?). Guy #3 was the tallest and possibly even more muscular than both the other two. He actually had longer hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. He had this brooding tiger thing going that I'd never seen used anywhere but on TV. I think my mom sent me to some alternate universe because the male species looks nothing like this in Phoenix.

As I was admiring these three, I didn't realize I'd been staring at them across the yard for longer than a socially acceptable amount of time. I quickly turned away when I noticed their puzzled looks and made a beeline for the house.

"Hey! Do you want some help?" one of them called. I looked over to see Guy #1 strolling towards me as the other two walked in the direction of the backyard. Nope, he definitely wasn't shy.

"Umm, well, the box is completely wedged in the back. You can try to get it out if you want or I can just get my dad to do it," I said as I pointed at the car, then towards the house indicating where Charlie was.

"Well let's see what we can do," he said as he sauntered toward the car.

I walked behind him checking out the view. He had on a tank top and a pair of cutoff shorts so his shoulder blades were very pronounced and his leg muscles flexed every time he took a step. One word: Impressive. When we reached the car I made sure to turn away before he noticed my ogling. He jiggled the box for about 30 seconds and out it came, and there he was, holding it like it weighed five pounds.

"So where to m'lady?" He smiled. He had a gorgeous smile. It seemed to light up his whole face.

"This way," I said, leading him towards the house. As we walked in, Dad and Billy looked up.

"Hey kids, what happening?" Charlie asked.

"He's helping me with my stuff, I couldn't get this out of the car," I said as I continued making my way toward my room.

I opened the door and walked in ahead.

"You can sit it on the bed. Thanks."

"No problem," he said as he looked around like he was searching for something, "I'm assuming you have more than just this box. In the trunk?"

I nodded.

"Ok then, be right back."

I stared blankly at his back again as he walked out. Why was he being so gracious? Was he Jacob? Did he expect me to know him right off the bat after eight years? I guess he had all the attributes Jacob would have like dark skin, dark hair, and…..who am I kidding? Any one of those three guys could have been him. His smile was almost exactly like Billy's though, but I still felt no familiarity to him whatsoever.

In the few minutes he was gone, I had started going through my box. As he walked back in, I turned, and my mouth dropped. He had managed to carry all three suitcases and my duffel bag.

"Aren't those heavy?" I asked, attempting to unload them from his arms.

"I'm sure they are," he said as he put them down. He looked up at me and smiled again. I couldn't help but to smile back, it was breathtaking. "Do you want help with unpacking any of this?"

"No. I should be okay. I can't really put much up without my dresser, a desk, or a bookcase."

"Oh ok. Let me know if you change your mind. I'm gonna head outside and see how I can help set up for the cookout. It sounds like some people are here already." As he said that, I heard a car door shut and murmured voices from outside. He stuck out his hand towards me, "Embry Call, by the way."

"Oh, um, Bella," I said as I shook his hand.

CLACK. CLACK. Embry and I both jumped and looked towards the noise. It came from my window that was facing the Black's house. His two friends from earlier were now holding up several packs of hotdogs pointing at them and laughing. Embry laughed crossing the room and throwing the window open to talk to them.

"Don't think just because you're being a good citizen today means you get out of grilling duty," the skinnier one said.

Embry laughed. "Don't give me that crap. You guys just want to goof off and leave me in charge," he said turning to me. "Bella, come here."

"Bella, this is Quil Ateara," he motioned toward the skinny one (Guy #2), "and of course you remember your new next door neighbor, Jacob Black," he motioned to the big smoldering one who hadn't said a word yet. A smile spread across his face though. This man-boy was definitely Billy's son. That smile was even more bright that Embry's.

Embry continued, "Billy and Charlie have been going on and on all week wondering if you two would get along now as well as you did when you were kids."

"Long time, no see Bells," Jacob said in a voice that would have made ice melt and make _me_ blush. I hadn't been called Bells in years.

It took me a minute to regain my composure, "Yeah, it's been a while. You look completely different."

"Yeah, well, puberty and high school changes a guy, but I see you have the same tendency to blush at the smallest things." Of course, that made me blush deeper. They all three just laughed.

"Embry, we need to get this grill up and running if we want the food to be done in time." Quil cut in between the laughter.

"Right, well I'll see you in a few Bella. You better bring your appetite. These people bring enough food to feed an army." And with that, he jumped out of my window, which was only about four or five feet off the ground, walking towards the backyard with Jacob and Quil.

I watched them walk away and start the huge grill up in the backyard. There were people here and there bustling about: setting up food, carrying down chairs, yelling back and forth, and pushing picnic tables together. It looked just like a scene out of a movie, one of those places where everybody knows everybody and everyone is family. I doubt I'd ever fit it. It seems like I never do, no matter the city or state.

Instead of mulling over my loneliness, I decided to take a shower to wash the plane smell of me and pick out some cute clothes (might as well make a good first impression, right?). I blow-dried my hair to make it straight and settled on a hunter green halter top and my favorite pair of faded blue jean shorts. I never wear make-up so I was ready in less than a half hour, physically speaking. Emotionally, I was a nervous wreck. I felt like my hands were shaking. I just kept telling myself to stick with Charlie and everything would be okay.

"Hey Bella, you ready?" Dad was at my door holding two lawn chairs.

I nodded and he headed out the back door, me right on his heels. I heard music playing as soon as I reached our back porch, which was screened in; I hadn't noticed that earlier when I looked out my back window. I looked around at the crowd and there was at least 30 people mingling in both back yards. Charlie found Billy and we made our way over to him, setting our chairs up to his right.

Billy immediately started with the introductions, "Bella, I'd like you to meet the Clearwater's," he turned to a gray-haired man on his left. "Hey Harry! Bring your crew over here." Harry turned and motioned to a few teenagers who were standing at the grill. Two of them made their way over to us. "Bella, this is Harry Clearwater, his wife Sue, their daughter Leah, and their son Seth." I shook all their hands respectively. They all seemed polite. Of course then I had to hear Harry express how great it was that I was finally in town; Charlie had talked about nothing else on their fishing trip this past week. Then Sue told me how pretty I had grown up to be.

"How old are you now Bella?" she asked.

"16. I'll be 17 in September."

"Oh that's nice. Leah is 16 too. Seth is only 15."

Leah was a typical looking Quileute girl. She had rich, brown skin. Her black hair was long and tied back, and she was very pretty. Seth was taller and leaner than her, which made him seem like the older one. They both told me how much I would love it here. I wasn't sure how I felt about this place yet though. Leah kind of motioned me to the side, seeing how uncomfortable I was in the spotlight. The adults began to talk among themselves again, and Seth made his way back over to the grill.

"So have you met any of the other people our age?" Leah asked.

"I've met Embry, Quil, and Jacob. Well, I mean, I knew Jacob, I kind of re-met him, if that's a word."

She laughed, "So you met the most popular guys here first? Way to start at the top."

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Oh, you'll see. Once more people get here, mainly girls around our age, they'll flock to them like moths to a flame. They're the jocks and their built, so they get attention like mad. Even though Jacob doesn't date, that don't keep them from trying, you know?"

"Why doesn't Jacob date?"

"I'm not sure. He's never really said. He's the biggest flirt that's ever lived though. These girls swoon when he just says 'hi.' It's pretty disgusting." I laughed at that. I liked Leah; she told it how it was, not caring what anybody thought.

"I'm assuming that you're not one of those girls?" I asked.

"Definitely not. Most of these guys are like brothers to me."

I turned and saw Embry jogging up to us. "Hey Leah, Sam wants to talk to you. I'll show Bella here around," he said smiling.

"See you in a little while Bella," Leah said, looking excited and making a beeline back to the grill where I'm assuming Sam stood.

"Sooooo," Embry began, "Are you having fun?"

"Well, crowds aren't really my thing."

"How about I introduce you to some people, make it less awkward, huh?"

"That'll most likely make it more awkward," I said.

"If it gets too bad, just tell me, and we'll stop."

"Okay." As soon as the word was out of my mouth, he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the heart of the party.

Embry introduced me to what seemed like the whole town. In the group of teenagers by the grill I met Sam, Jared, Paul, and Emily. Next were Quil's father and grandfather, who were absolutely hilarious. Embry introduced me to his mom, who was a gorgeous soft-spoken woman. They seemed to have such a close relationship which was evident even in the few minutes I saw them interact. After a few more introductions, Billy called me over to a smiling couple whose daughter was the girl I saw next door when we arrived. She looked just as uncomfortable as I felt. I reluctantly walked away from Embry and he made his way to help finish setting up the food table, yelling he would catch up with me later as he strode away.

"Bella, this is Pastor Donald Weber, his wife Regina, and their daughter Angela. He's the new pastor in town at the church they built just down the road. They live in the other side of you," Billy said.

"Oh right. It's nice to meet all of you."

"FOOD'S READY!"

I turned around and watched as everybody all but ran to get in line. I noticed that the party had grown by quite an amount by now and there were still a few people making their way in through the gap between the Black and Swan houses. It seemed as if Leah were right in predicting about the girls our age. There were at least a dozen more of them around the guys now than there were earlier. I looked at Angela who was staring at everybody ambling past her toward the picnic tables piled high with hotdogs, chicken, and fries. Against my usual instincts, I held my hand out to her.

"C'mon Angela, we have to push our way in there somehow, or else we'll starve with all those huge guys going at that food," I inclined my head toward the huge Quileutes lined up at the table, "We have a better chance fighting them together."

"Yeah, you're right," she said. She took my hand and we ran, laughing, toward the table like everybody else.

**When all you got to keep is strong**  
**Move along, move along like I know you do**  
**And even when your hope is gone**  
**Move along, move along just to make it through**  
**Move along**  
**When everything is wrong we move along**

**A/N: I love that song by the way. We may see alot of All American Rejects in this story. What do you think so far? How do you like the characters? Who will we see next? I know that Embry is usually the taller one and Quil the shorter stockier one, but when I was reading the books before I saw the movies, I pictured them the opposite way so that's how I'm writing them. Quil is tall, lean, and funny. Embry is a little shorter but built more like a football player. Since the story is All Human, Leah has no reason to be resentful and crabby all the time :) Angela is one of my faves so I had to include her. I may put up spoilers after next chapter, according to how many reviews I get. Right now I dont have enough to justify giving them. Let me know! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4 Out with the old,

**Chapter 4- Out with the old, In with the new**

**Hey guys, it's Wednesday again! It was hard to get inspiration for this chapter cuz I'm still getting no reviews, but I see people are reading so hopefully someone will get generous enough and leave me some love or suggestions when they finish this chapter. In this one, we'll get to see Jacob and Embry a little more and lay some groundwork for future chapters. Just to recap, they're still at the cookout. I hope you enjoy it! BTW the song for this one is posted at the end, it's fits in better after the chapter is over :)**

It seemed that everyone had attempted to form a makeshift line to the food. I spotted Embry at the same time he turned his head and saw me. He was near the front of the line since he was already close to the table when the call was announced. I motioned between Angela and myself and then pointed at him, clearly asking if we could get in line with him. He smiled and waved us over.

"Embry, do you know Angela? She's one of my new neighbors."

"Yeah, I think we've seen each other a few times in passing. Glad you could come Ang."

"Well, it's practically in our back yard too, so I figured it would look weird if I didn't. Social gatherings aren't really my cup of tea," said Angela.

I laughed, "At least I'm not the only one."

"You'll get use to being here fast. Most of us are just like one big family and now you'll be considered a part of it." Embry flashed his big grin and I could tell Angela was just as mesmerized by it as I had been earlier.

After piling our plates with an absurd amount of food, Embry led us to a picnic table filled with his friends. They were all laughing about something as we walked up and Leah made room for us to sit. I sat down on Leah's right with Angela on my other side and Embry beside her. Jacob was seated across from me. I glanced at the ones I had been introduced to already trying to remember all their names so I could introduce them to Angela when I got the chance. I noticed additions to the group here and there, mostly girls.

Leah started the conversation, "Any plans this summer Bella?"

"No, not really. I just got a call from my dad the other week saying to pack some bags for the summer, so I really didn't have time to think about what I would do once I got here."

"If you need somebody to show you around, don't be afraid to ask me. There's plenty of stuff to do around here to keep you busy."

"That would be great Leah. I'm sure it'll be boring sitting at home all day while Charlie's at work, so I'll need something beside Oprah to keep me occupied." That got me a few laughs.

"So Jacob, do you want to go see a movie or something tonight?" the girl on his left asked him, looking like she was hanging her every bit of hope on his answer. He froze and slowly looked up in her direction.

"No thanks Roxie. There's really nothing on I want to see."

"Well how about the 'or something' part of that question?" she said, eyeing him up and down. Man, this girl was unbelievable. She was batting her eyes and licking her lips right in front of everyone at the table, who by now were all looking in their direction. Has she no self-respect? I felt awkward even listening to this crap.

"I actually have some stuff to do around here tonight. Thanks anyway." Jacob was being as nice as he could be, but that didn't fly with Roxie. She jumped up and grabbed her plate.

"Whatever," she scoffed walking in the direction of the front yard. Jacob looked at me and rolled his eyes; I couldn't help but let out a small giggle.

The space beside him wasn't left open for long. A taller, blonder chick came and sat down before anyone had even spoken again.

Leah leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, "Next." And boy was she right.

I think Angela could feel the tension so she decided to break it, "So Bella, are you starting La Push high school this fall too?" All eyes at the table seemed to look at me then, Jacob's current predicament forgotten.

"No, I'm just staying for the summer."

"That sucks. I was hoping to not be the only new person who didn't know her way around. What grade will you be in this year?"

"Eleventh. I turn 17 in September,"

"Me too, except for I turn 17 in two weeks." Angela said.

After bringing up the subject of school and age, I asked what grade everyone else was in. Turns out me, Angela, Jacob, Leah, Quil and Embry were all going to be juniors. Sam, Jared, Paul, and Emily were going to be seniors. Seth was the only rising sophomore in the group.

A few of the guys were now up dancing to the music playing in the background. Roxie had apparently made her way back and had now snagged Quil into dancing with her. I saw Charlie being dragged by Embry's mom, Sheryl, to the middle of the yard for a dance. He was beet red; now I know where I get it from. When there was only Leah, Jacob, Angela and I left at the table, Leah lowered her voice and turned to me.

"Our group is going down to the beach later on tonight after all this is over if you two want to come. None of these crazies from school know about it, so keep it hush hush. We like to hang out, just us."

"Well, I don't want to intrude."

Leah rolled her eyes and smiled, "I just invited you. I only do this because you both seem cool and I assume you wouldn't tell anybody who would crash it. I've already asked the guys and they seem fine with it. We don't easily let people in on our little bonfires."

"Since you put it that way," I laughed, "Okay, okay I'll come. What time and where at exactly?"

"I'll fill you in on the details later," she said as she was pulled up from her seat by Embry who wanted a dance.

"Hey," I turned to see Jacob staring at me and Angela like a hawk. He lowered his voice and leaned towards us, "There's a path over here behind our houses that Quil and I made a few years back that leads straight to the shore. It kind of blends in, but there's a tree that has a 'B' etched into it at the mouth of the trail. It's not hard to find if you know what you're looking for." He leaned back up quickly and I saw why. Another, yes another, girl was coming over to vie for his attention.

She put on a pouty face that about made me gag, "Dance with me?"

"Sure, sure. Might as well join all the fun." Jacob got up somewhat reluctantly and I swear the girl looked on the brink of fainting.

"He's nice," Angela said, turning away from the embarrassing scene.

"Yeah, he seems to be. Leah told me he, Quil, and Embry are some of the most popular guys in school."

"That's not hard to believe. Look at the way these girls act around them. Why is he so nice to us then, if he's so popular? He barely knows us," Angela wondered.

"Probably because our dads are friends and he feels like he has to be."

"I doubt it. He seems pretty sincere."

"Maybe," I said, focusing my attention back to everyone dancing around me.

The Macarena came blaring out of the big speakers set up on a table by the back door and I watched as a majority of the party got into one big group to dance simultaneously to the song. I have to admit, this was probably the most entertainment I'd had in a while. Not only was seeing Billy attempt to dance in a wheelchair comical, but watching these big muscular Quileute guys act like complete fools made my day.

Throughout the next half hour, Angela and I deemed Leah and Embry the best dancers, Sam was definitely the worst, and Quil was the most spontaneous, busting moves that ranged from the robot to breakdancing. We crowned a red-headed girl, who had also set her sights on Jacob at the moment, most likely to be a stripper. I swear if Jacob was a pole, people would be throwing dollar bills at her. Angela noted that Jacob seemed the most uncomfortable, pretty much standing there while the girl danced around him. During one of her more risky moves that resembled a dog taking advantage of its owner's leg, Angela and I broke into a fit of giggles that ceased as soon as Jacob looked in our direction. He had this look of pure annoyance on his face, but I could have sworn when we made eye contact I saw the corners of his mouth twitch as if he were holding back a laugh.

I snapped out of it when I noticed the music had changed to a slow song. Sam asked Leah to dance, Jacob quickly pulled Embry's mom onto the dance floor before anyone else could get to him, Emily was dancing with Jared, and Embry was walking towards me with a smile on his face. Is he serious? I think I may have started hyperventilating because I knew what he was thinking.

Embry held out his hand to me, "Will you do me the honor of giving me this dance?"

I couldn't help but laugh, "You're kidding me, right?"

"Ouch!" He put his hand over his heart. "You don't wanna dance with me?"

"Yes…no…well, I can't really dance," I managed to stutter out.

"Here, I'll teach you." With that, he pulled me up and led me towards the other couples who were dancing. After we found a spot, he placed my hands on his huge shoulders.

"So you put your hands here on my shoulders. I'm going to put mine on your waist, but don't worry I won't cop a feel, after all we just met." He winked. Again, I smiled. "Just follow my lead and you'll be fine."

Surprisingly, I didn't trip over our feet at all. I just stepped on his once. At first it was kind of awkward, but Embry had such an air of comfort around him that I eventually relaxed. I looked around wondering where Angela had gotten to, but then I spotted her dancing with Quil.

"So I hear that you were invited to our top-secret bonfire later," Embry said quietly, smiling at his joke.

I nodded my head.

"You should feel honored. We haven't had a new person join us in years. It's usually just our same old group."

"Why did I get invited then?" I wondered.

"You're part of the extended family now, seeing as you grew up with the Black's. Plus, after we all met you we could tell you weren't like the other girls around here. Leah seems to like you and Angela and she's a pretty good judge of character. She probably likes the fact that you're not drooling over all of us either."

I rolled my eyes and smiled, "What's there to drool over?"

"Ohhhhhhhh, that was good. It hurt, but it was good. You'll definitely fit in here," Embry said laughing at my obvious joke. Evidently, there was plenty to drool over in La Push, but they didn't need to know I thought that too.

"I'll have to ask Charlie about going down to the beach. I don't know if he'll want me staying out late," I said, getting back to the subject at hand.

"Oh, he'll be easy. I'll have Jacob ask him, he's like the son he never had and he trusts his judgment, on most things anyway." He said the last part more to himself than to me. I'd have to remember to ask about that later.

"Can I cut in?" We both look over to see Jacob and Sheryl standing there. It was Embry's mom who had spoken, apparently wanting a dance with her son.

"Sure, he's all yours," I said stepping back.

"I'll catch up with you later," Embry said as he winked at me and spun his mom around.

I stood there uncomfortably for a second looking at Jacob and then decided to just go sit back down. As I was turning, I felt a warm hand close around my wrist and spin me back around. Jacob spun me around so fast, the next thing I knew, I'm smashing into his rock hard chest. He laughs this low, throaty laugh and pulls my hips in to meet his.

"That was pretty rude," he says.

"Oh really? And pulling me around like a rag doll is nice?"

"Just having some fun Bells. Besides, you know I had to dance with you sooner or later."

"Why is that?"

"These girls are killing me. At least with you I know I'm safe."

"Yeah, I promise I won't try to take advantage of you in the backyard."

"Unless I ask," he said giving me a smirk.

"Probably not even then," I retorted. He threw his head back and laughed. I was in shock as to how we were speaking to each other like we hadn't been separated for eight years. I barely knew this guy and we spoke like we've been neighbors all our lives.

"We need to catch up anyway," Jake said pulling me out of my thoughts. _Jake? _

"What do you want to know?" I was afraid to ask.

"Anything and everything you want to tell me. I'll go first to make it easier." Wow. I was beginning to like him more and more each second.

"Please be my guest," I said, motioning with my hand that he should continue.

"Okay, well, as you know I'll be a junior this year. I just turned 17. I still go fishing with dad and Charlie a lot. Since you've last seen me, I've grown probably a couple feet." I laughed at that one, but he continued, "I like working on anything with an engine and I cliff dive sometimes. Anything else you want to know?"

"I heard you don't date," I said.

"Well, you've seen the picks around here. Not exactly grade A. Yeah, they're pretty and all, but a girl's gotta have some brains, you know? Leah's smart, but she's like a sister. I figured she'd be jealous once you got here, because you were like my sister when we were younger, but she seems to like you already."

"Angela might be a good choice. She seems really nice," I suggested.

"Yeah, but I don't really know her that well yet. We'll see. So what about you?"

I was taken aback by his sudden question. Was he asking about dating me? "What about me?"

"It's your turn to tell me about you. Catch me up on these past eight years."

Oh, now I feel stupid. "Umm, well, we're the same grade and age, but you already knew that. I don't really have anything interesting about me like you do Jake."

"Jake? Wow, I haven't been called that in forever. I like it." He smiled down at me. Maybe he was genuinely being nice to me like Angela thought. "Anyways, you have to have some kind of hobby. You don't just sit around and stare at walls all day do you?"

"Well, I read a lot. But mostly I keep to myself. I'm not a people person."

"You weren't really excited about coming to see your dad, huh?"

"Well, it made everybody else happy so I went along with it," I said, looking away from his face.

"Ahh, Bells, always the martyr. I remembered that about you. Always doing what everybody else wanted to do," Jake teased.

"Oh shut up. It's not like I'm missing so much back at home."

"So no jealous boyfriend to come here and beat me and Embry up for dancing with you?"

I paused, "I'm sure he wouldn't be jealous." I blushed at my confession.

"Who's the lucky guy?"

"His name is Chad and let's just say I didn't cry about leaving him behind. Well, he didn't seem to care too much about it either."

He looked at me puzzled. "That's not a good sign."

"It isn't one of those whirlwind romances that's for sure." As I said this, the music came to a stop and I noticed that everyone around who wasn't dancing was starting to pack things up.

"We'll finish this talk later. I really want to know what you've been up to all this time. I'm gonna go ask Charlie about you coming with us tonight." Before I could protest that I could ask him myself, he had already run off.

In the meantime, I helped Sue carry her dishes back to her car. When I made my way back, I spotted Jacob talking and laughing animatedly with Charlie. Jacob walked away before I reached them.

Charlie turned when he heard me walking up, "Well, hey kiddo. I hear you're making friends and getting invited to bonfires already."

"Well, Leah mentioned it, but I don't have to go if you don't want me to. I can just finish unpacking my room," I offered.

"No, no, no, you've got all the time in the world to unpack. This is a good chance to get to know the people your age. Jacob told me to let you know that everyone should be there in about a half hour."

"Great," I said unenthusiastically. Yes, I wanted to hang out with Angela and Leah, and possibly Jake and Embry a little more, but I get so anxious when it comes to an entire group of people. Most of these people seemed really nice though, so maybe I was just worrying myself over nothing. I know it would make Charlie happy if I went. There I go again with the whole martyr thing as Jake said.

So I decided right then and there that I was going to do more things for myself, starting with going to this bonfire. Not because Charlie would love it or because mom would bust something from excitement if she knew I was being social. I decided to go because I needed something in my life besides my books and my stereo. I needed interaction with people. I needed to let loose this summer and be who I want to be. I want to be a person that isn't scared of doing the smallest things and who takes risks. I want to leave that person back in Phoenix. I've been accepted here faster than I ever was back home and I needed to make something of myself. I want these people to remember me when this summer is over and I was back to my old life. Yeah, I was definitely going to this bonfire.

I chose to wear my bathing suit under my shorts and my blue tank top. We were going to be right on the beach so I was prepared. No telling what this new Bella would do. On my way out, I asked Charlie what time he wanted me in.

"Don't worry about the time tonight. Just have fun and get to know everybody. I know where you are if I need to find you," and so I left him sitting on the couch with the remote in one hand and a soda in the other.

**Song: "I Gotta Feeling" Black Eyed Peas**

**A/N: So there you go. Another chapter finshed. I have so many things going thru my head right now about what will happen throughout this story. The Cullens probably won't show up for a few more chapters. Oh but they will! Please please please let me know what you think so far, how do you like the characters, what characters would you like to see more from, and how would you like the Cullens to play in this? Like I said, I have visions but none are set in stone. I'm not gonna leave spoilers this time for the next chapter since I got ZERO reviews last chapter. C'mon guys I know you got _something_ to say. Be nice tho lol. See you next Wednesday!**


	5. Chapter 5 Group Confessions

**Chapter 5-Group Confessions**

**Happy Wednesday readers! A big thanks to _Laylasmommy3_ and _jenniper _for thier reviews last chapter. I enjoyed the encouragement and it helped me keep writing. I worked my butt off to get everything in this chapter that I wanted, and here it is, the longest one yet. Yay! I have kind of mixed feelings about some parts, but please let me know what you think. From here on out, I'm totally flying by the seat of my pants. I have not outlined far past here, so shooting your ideas at me will be a big help :) The Cullens are not in this chapter, but I can almost safely say that it won't be long. Again, the song for this chapter is at the bottom, it just works out better near the end. To remind you where we left off, Bella is leaving her house to go to the 'secret' bonfire...and here we go:**

The trail down to the beach was mainly lit by the moon, but since the sand was so white, the reflection between the two made it fairly easy to see my way. It was eerily quiet and all I could hear was the distant sound of waves and the wind.

All of a sudden, I heard from behind me a yell, someone shouting, "P.B.R!" I heard something clatter behind me and before I could turn around, somebody's heavy hands pressed down onto my shoulders bringing me to my knees in the sand. I looked up just in time to see some tall shape with cut off jeans and a white tank top jump over me, land lightly, and turn back to face me.

"Come on Bella, I can't ride on your back if you collapse under my weight," the mystery person said and then he laughed.

"Quil?" He nodded his head as I stood back up. "Why in the heck did you throw something at me, yell, scaring the crap out of me by the way, and then push me down?" I was trying to be mad, but Quil wasn't having it.

He burst into laughter again. "Okay, first of all, I didn't throw anything AT you. I tossed my cooler down. Secondly, I yelled 'P.B.R' as in 'piggy back ride.' That was your cue to brace yourself." Quil smiled and I couldn't find it in myself to be mad at his adorable antics. These Quileute boys were going to be the death of me.

"Oh ok, sorry I wasn't familiar with the term," I said back in my most sarcastic tone.

"Eh, you'll know next time," he said, shrugging his shoulders and then jogging over to retrieve his cooler out of the sand. _Next time? Let's hope there's not a next time. _I didn't know what to say so I just nodded my head slowly and began walking back down the trail.

Quil caught up with me. "So did you enjoy meeting everybody today?" he asked.

"I guess so. It was just a bit overwhelming."

"Yeah, I bet. Sorry I didn't get a dance from you, but there will be others," he said smiling.

"Oh, it's perfectly okay," I said, not thinking about how it would sound. I looked at him and he had this expression on his face like I had just hurt his feelings, so I quickly continued, "Not that it wouldn't have been nice, I just don't feel like I dance too well so I try to do it as least as possible." That seemed to make him cheer up a bit, now that he knew I wasn't taking cheap shots at his ego.

"You looked like you were holding your own pretty well with Embry and Jacob," he retorted.

"It might have been an illusion," I laughed and he chuckled a little.

"So what did you think of all the girls from school? Pretty intense, huh?" he asked.

"You think?" We both laughed at that too. "It was so embarrassing sitting at that table while they practically undressed all of you with their eyes."

"Well, I mean c'mon, do you blame them?" He held out his hands gesturing to himself. He was so full of it, but it was funny in a way.

I chose this moment to roll my eyes, "Yes, I blame them. It's insulting to women that have common sense. If you want somebody, at least have the decency to tell them in private and not make such a show about it. It's like they wanted everybody to see their lame flirting techniques."

"They _were_ pretty lame. So is that why we're walking down this trail in private? You wanted me all to yourself so you could try out _your_ flirting techniques and tell me how irresistible I am?" I snapped my eyes up to his. Was he kidding? Yeah, he was, I could tell. He had this smirk across his face that was half cocky, half teasing.

"Oh you wish I had something to tell you private. Don't be so full of yourself, it's so unflattering for a gentleman like you," I said.

"I'm not full of myself, I'm _sure _of myself, there's a difference."

"Yeah and that difference is Roxie. I'd be pretty sure of myself with her too. She went from guy to guy tonight at the cookout, including you."

"Bella, I didn't realize you had such a feisty side to ya. I like it," he teased, and we both laughed again.

"So since you were dancing with Roxie and Angela, I'm assuming you're not tied down to a girl at the moment," I stated, curious if he was in the same 'no dating' boat as Jake was in.

"Nope, not at the moment. But I'm taking applications if you're interested." He raised one eyebrow at me.

"Maybe another time," I said, unable to hold back a smile.

"We've all been really excited to meet you, you know?" Quil said, changing the subject.

"Oh really? Why?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"You're like the mystery girl we've always heard about. Charlie brags about you here and there. Billy has pictures of you up in his house. You and Jacob are plastered all over their walls, mainly pictures his mom took when you guys were kids. Now that you're here it's like we're seeing the girl that's been behind these pictures all these years," he explained.

"Kind of makes me feel bad that I haven't visited before now."

"Sorry, I was just explaining why everybody took to you so quick."

"It's okay; I should have come around more often. But what about Angela though? She's not a 'mystery girl' and everybody treated her just as well."

"I think Leah is excited to have some new blood around, so to speak. She and Emily are the only girls in our 'group.' I think Leah craves some time away from all of us guys, so maybe you can Angela can be of service in that area. She and Emily don't hang out that much."

"Why don't they hang out?"

"Sam drama," he vaguely said, not acting as though he wanted to elaborate.

"Embry says she probably likes us because we're not drooling over all of you," I said, looking up at him and smiling, trying to get back to the previous subject.

"That would definitely be a plus in her book. But I see how you look at me Bella, you can't fight it for long, or else it'll just explode like a firecracker and you won't be able to stop yourself from ravaging me," he said, throwing his head back all dramatic.

I laughed, "Shut up Quil."

"Okay, but when you explode, I'm not gonna stop you." He winked and I rolled my eyes again.

As he said this, we emerged from the trees surrounding the trail and found ourselves right on First Beach. To my left I could see a fire blazing about a hundred feet away with people gathered around it sitting on logs. We made our way toward the fire, and now that the trees weren't surrounding us, I felt the cool breeze off the ocean and suddenly wished that I had worn more clothes, or at least brought a jacket.

Quil noticed how I shivered and held my arms around myself, so he walked closer to me and threw his arm over my shoulders. Somehow, I was instantly warmer.

"Somebody should have reminded you to bring a hoodie or something," he said, and he acted as if us walking like this was nothing. He didn't seem uncomfortable about this gesture at all. I realized he most likely was just sincerely trying to keep me warm, not hitting on me like his previous statements implied. This made me feel a little better, and then I noticed how warm he actually was. More than normal, I would guess.

"How are you so hot?" I said, speaking before I thought about what I was saying.

He smiled, "It's all in the family genes I suppose. Good breeding, you know. It can be a blessing _and_ a curse." He was rubbing his chest with the small cooler he was carrying, trying to look sexy I guess.

I lightly smacked his stomach, which was rock hard by the way, "Ha ha. You know what I mean."

"I think all of us who live around here just get use to the temperature. We come down to the beach all the time so maybe our bodies just adjust to it."

We were coming up on the group around the fire now. Leah, Embry, Jacob, Paul, Jared, Seth, Sam, and Emily were all there. They all turned to us and I saw almost all smiles except for Jake and Embry who kind of looked at us confused. I then realized Quil's arm was still around me. I casually ducked out from under it, trying my best to be inconspicuous so as not to bring any more attention to us. The heat from the fire would be sufficient anyway. All the logs surrounding the fire were two-seaters and I chose an empty space beside Leah to sit.

"Hey Bella," Leah said excitedly. She seemed happy to see me as she handed me a stick with a fresh marshmallow on the end of it. "Here, let's get you set up with some smores. Embry's mom makes the best homemade graham crackers." I looked over at Embry who was smiling like a proud parent and he caught my eye and winked. I, of course, blush and turn back towards the fire and to Leah who was getting together all the fixins for my smore.

As I was toasting my marshmallow, I looked around the fire and realized how…._beautiful_…all these Quileute teenagers looked. The flame's color seemed to dance off their skin and it made them seem so majestic. It may have been because I haven't spent a lot of time with them, but I felt so awestruck by all the people surrounding me. I was glad they were so accepting of me even though I was excruciatingly different from them in every way possible.

"Okay guys, I brought Pepsi, Sprite, Root Beer, and Sunkist Orange." Quil was now going through the cooler he had brought. After he had passed out everyone's choice of soda, he turned to Embry who was unwrapping sandwiches. Apparently, his mom had made homemade chicken salad sandwiches too. She seemed to want to make sure all his friends were well-fed.

"You sure you don't want a sandwich Bella?" Embry called from the other side of Quil, who was to my right on the log next to me.

"No thanks. I'm still pretty full from the cookout. I don't see how you guys are still eating after all the food that we had up there."

Sam piped in from the other side of Leah, "We tried to restrain ourselves. We knew that Sheryl would be making us her famous chicken salad sandwiches. She does it every time we hang out and it never gets old."

"Retrain yourselves? You guys are a bottomless pit, that's how you eat so much," Leah said, poking Sam in the ribs earning a smile from him.

"Yeah, that does help."

I looked over at Emily who didn't seem too happy about this little exchange. I noticed Seth, who was on the log on the other side of Emily and Sam, giving Emily the same wary look I was. It seemed as if everybody was watching with bated breath at what would happen next. Obviously nothing was going to happen, so the conversation started up again. Jared began picking on Jacob about the girls at the party.

"So Jacob, when are you gonna give in and give those ladies what they want?" he asked.

"Umm, how about never," Jacob retorted.

"Why not? I bet you could get away with anything."

"I can get away with anything now, why tie myself down to somebody who clings to me like a leech?"

"They'll treat you like a god though," Jared seemed to be talking from experience.

"That would get old quick. Give me a girl who's hot _and_ has some brains, nothing like what's around here."

"Whatever you say bro, but I think you're just making excuses."

"I don't need excuses. Those girls that were around tonight are excuses all by themselves." You could tell he was tired of talking about this, so Jared took that as a hint.

"Hey guys." We all turned to see a shy looking Angela walking up (who was smart enough to bring a sweatshirt). "Sorry I'm late. I had to finish a few chores at the house and convince my dad to let me come."

"No problem. Take a seat Ang," Embry said, motioning to the only two seats left; one beside Jacob and the other beside Seth. Either way she'd be sitting between two guys. If she sat beside Seth, Paul was on the log beside her, and if she sat next to Jake, Jared would be on the log on her other side (Jared and Paul were sharing a log). She seemed to notice this predicament as she paused. She finally chose to sit next to Seth, I assumed because he seems the least intimidating.

"How about we start some kind of game?" Quil suggested.

"Like what? I'm not playing 'spin the bottle' with you again Quil," Paul joked.

"Hey, we could. There are FOUR girls here now, so there's a better chance not to land on each other."

"Let's not scare Angela and Bella away their first night here."

"Okay okay, since they don't know much about us and we don't know much about them, let's play 'I never.' It's usually a drinking game, but I guess we could play with soda," Embry piped in.

"What's that?" a couple of us asked. I was glad to know it wasn't just us newbies that had no idea what he was talking about.

Embry continued, "We each take a turn and say something we've _honestly_ never did. Then the people who _have_ done it take a drink. Let's say whoever finishes two sodas first wins. Quil, do we have enough?"

Quil checked his cooler, "Mmmm, probably. Anybody object to the game?"

Nobody said anything, a few shook their heads, but I could tell I wasn't the only one a little antsy about this. Everybody got their first full soda ready.

"Okay, who goes first?" Paul asked.

"I WILL!" Seth yelled, scaring Angela so bad she just about jumped into Paul's lap. "Sorry Angela, I never….had a girlfriend for more than two months."

I watched Sam, Jared, and Embry drink.

"Let's go clockwise, Angela, you're next," Jacob said. She seemed a little taken aback.

"I never…..ummmm….swam in the ocean," she managed to get out.

"WHAT!" and that didn't just come from one person. I think we all said it. I looked around and everybody drank, including me. I spent summers here a while back; of course I had been in the ocean. Angela was beet red by this point and dodging questions about how she managed to never get in the ocean. Paul was up next.

"I've never seen Leah's boobs," he said, looking straight at her.

Well obviously I didn't drink, but Sam, Leah and Jared did. The uproar this caused was hilarious. Clearly, Paul had known that Jared had seen them and this was his way of outing him. Emily had a sour look on her face, but she didn't say anything. Leah took off her flip flop and threw it across the fire at Jared's head.

"What the hell Jared? You said you didn't see anything!"

"Well, excuse me Leah, but you're the one who didn't pick up the towel quick enough and I really had to pee. Don't be so mad, they were nice."

"Oh my gosh, shut up!" Leah yelled back.

"Yes, please shut up talking about my sister's boobs," Seth said, covering his face.

Everybody was still laughing, but we turned to Jared because it was now his turn.

"I've never stolen anything."

Sam, Paul, Embry, and Quil drank. And so did I. Even though four other people drank too, everyone's eyes were fixed on me.

I defended myself, "What? I was eight and I really wanted that red tootsie roll." Everyone busted out laughing at my confession and then told their stealing stories, which ranged from stealing a sucker (Quil) to a bike (Paul). Jacob was next.

"I've never streaked," he said, smiling at Leah.

Leah and Quil drank. "Nobody should dare us to do something and expect us not to do it," Leah said, defending her and Quil.

"Okay, my turn," Embry started, "I've never slept in the same bed with a girl."

Everybody except for Paul and Quil drank. Paul mumbled something about never actually _sleeping _in the bed, what a perv. I stared shockingly at Jacob, because I was very surprised that he had. Apparently he doesn't date, but does other things. I wonder who she was. Quil was up now and he had an evil gleam in his eye.

"I've never kissed Bella," he said, turning his head slowly towards me with a huge grin spread across his face. I looked at him, confused by the way he was acting. Of course nobody here had kissed me, so it was a redundant statement. But then I remembered what Charlie had said in the car on the way to the new house and I slowly moved my eyes over to Jacob. He brought the can up to his lips and drank. _Holy crap_. All eyes were on me; at least I think they were. I couldn't take my eyes off of him; acting like this was no big deal at all. He could see my confusion.

"I'll explain later," he said to me, and then he freaking winked. Yeah, he winked. Like it was some huge secret we were sharing. Then Leah leaned over and planted a huge kiss on my cheek, successfully bringing me out of my stupor. I looked over at her.

"Now I've kissed Bella too," she said, and then she took a big gulp of her soda. She looked back at me, "Your turn girlie."

"Ummm," I said. My mind was reeling and I was so thankful that Leah had taken the spotlight off of me for the second time today. "I've never snuck out of my house." At this, I heard a lot of "psshh" and "do it all the time." Needless to say, pretty much everyone drank but me and Angela.

The rest of the game wasn't as intense as those first few confessions, but it was interesting to learn about these people. Seth dropped a bomb on us though, "I've never had sex."

I thought everyone was going to drink but me. Surprisingly, only Sam, Paul, and Jared drank. I guess that explains my question about Jacob sleeping in the same bed with a girl. I suppose it was platonic. I don't know why I even cared. It wasn't like I had some claim on him. I had just met them, kind of. I was baffled that Jacob, Embry, and Quil were virgins. They all oozed confidence and sexuality, but like I said, it's none of my business.

"So all the girls are virgins. Niiiiiice." Leave it to Paul to single us out.

Sam held up his second empty can showing that he won the game. He was older and had definitely done more crap than any of us had. Everyone congratulated him and he admitted he wasn't proud of everything, but it was nice to beat us.

Quil stood up, taking off his shirt, rendering me temporarily speechless, "Who's up for a swim?" His eyes landed on Angela.

She stammered, "Wha…..no no no. It's too cold."

"Don't worry. Even without your hoodie you'll stay warm with me since I'm so hot, right Bella?" Quil winked at me for the hundredth time that night.

Before either of us had a chance to respond, he had ran over to Angela, who was in the process of taking her sweatshirt off. He removed it in one quick swipe (there was a tank top underneath) and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Then, with Angela screaming the whole way, Quil ran straight for the ocean and tossed her under the water with him still holding on to her.

Leah jumped up and took off her shirt which revealed her bikini top. She and Embry headed straight for the water, Sam, Seth, and Emily right behind them. Jacob jumped up and looked at me.

"C'mon Bells. I know you got a sexy little number under that shirt you want to show off."

"Not really, I just wore it just in case."

"Well, let's not put it to waste." He motioned for me to stand, so I did. I took my shirt off and felt really awkward with him standing right next to me. I looked up and I could see how his face had gone serious and his eyes seemed darker as he watched me lay my shirt down where I had been sitting.

Someone whistled from the water, pulling me out of my trance. Who else but Quil, right?

"Take it off!" He yelled, causing everyone to laugh. I took off my shorts and me and Jake made our way towards the water.

As we got closer, I noticed Quil was still hanging on to Angela, who hadn't got the hang of riding the waves yet. Sam was holding Emily's hand because the waves kept pushing her down. Leah seemed determined to stay up and not let the ocean get the better of her. The moon was still reflecting beautifully off the water, which made this point in time seem surreal and it reminded me why I wanted to do this. Anything I do this summer might be my only chance to do it before I go back to my old life.

I put my feet in the water, Jacob running past me and making a dive as soon as he was in deep enough. It was actually warm. I waded in until a wave pushed me back a little, but I managed to stay on my feet. Embry saw what happened.

He made his way to me and held out his hand, "Here Bella, the tide is kind of strong so you might want to hang on to me." I glanced up into his face, but was distracted momentarily by his gorgeous body. I was obviously checking him out and he sensed it because he cleared his throat. My eyes darted right back up to his face. Before I could embarrass myself anymore, I took his hand and let him lead me in.

For the next half hour or so, we all battled the waves and had so much fun joking and laughing together. I'm glad Embry kept a hold on me because the tide kept pulling me away. I didn't have the strength to keep myself at bay like most everyone else did. I decided with Embry by my side, I'd take a chance and go deeper. We were out to my chin and the big waves were coming through, breaking right on us. I think I got a little too confident. I went to dive under it and it threw me back, breaking my grip from Embry's hand. I thought I was a goner, but then I felt someone's strong hands pull me forward around my waist and into their chest.

When we reached the surface again, I looked up at Embry who had the most worried expression on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It happens," I responded. I played it off like it was no big deal, but my heart was beating a mile a minute.

"You scared me to death. How would I go back to Chief Swan and tell him I lost his daughter in the ocean?"

"Just blame it on Quil." We both laughed.

"Well, I'm not letting you go again, so hold on tight," he said, still smiling. We were still facing each other, so he pulled me closer to him with his arms wrapped all the way around my waist. I placed my hands on his shoulders, but he wasn't having that. "I said hold on tight." He pulled my legs up around his hips so I could lock my ankles around his back, and he took my arms and wrapped them around his neck. "If you hold on good we can dive under the waves together."

I felt a little awkward and I hoped nobody was looking at us because they would think I was the biggest slut in La Push. My first night here and I'm already wrapped around some random guy.

Embry swam and jumped around like I wasn't even attached to him. My weight didn't seem to hinder him one bit. He did indeed dive under the waves which made me tighten my grip around his waist, causing friction between our lower parts that was unintentional, but definitely not unpleasant (on my part, anyway). When he would come back up out of the water, he had the sexiest 'wet head.' It was all spiked and messy, but so cute. I didn't let him see me looking though.

"This is so much fun," he practically cried out as we came up from dodging a huge wave. Distracted by his momentary outburst, I wasn't paying attention to the next wave coming and since I had loosened my grip around his neck, I was thrown backward as it hit me square in the face. I tightened my legs around his waist, and by now the waves had pushed me down perpendicular to his body. I felt his hands grab my hips and take hold. Once it had passed, he pulled me up quickly against his solid chest and our faces were closer than they had been all night.

I could feel his warm breath on my face and he was staring directly at my lips. We were so close I could feel his erratic heartbeat, and I was sure he could feel mine. My core was firmly pressed against him, and it was all I could do not to moan. I could tell what he wanted to do, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't. But I wasn't a cheater, and even though Chad was dull and I had never experienced anything like this, I wouldn't have a clear conscience tomorrow if I kissed him.

"Sorry," I said, looking toward the others in the group, who seemed oblivious to our current situation.

"About?" he questioned.

"I didn't see that wave coming so it took me by surprise."

"You don't have to be sorry. Remember, it happens." He smiled at me again, like nothing just passed between us. Maybe that's the way it should stay. "I think everyone else is packing it in. We should probably head back too."

I untangled myself from him rather reluctantly and I could feel his hesitation too. As I slid off of him, I could have sworn I felt something press against the bottom of my stomach and I thought I heard a faint hiss come from him. I'll leave that to speculation because I don't have the guts to mention it to him.

Half an hour later, we all walked back up the 'hidden' trail to our houses. Embry was mostly quiet, stealing glances the whole way back. I saw Quil and Jacob exchange looks with him, probably wondering what his deal was. I chatted with Leah and Angela mostly, setting up different days we could all hang out. I was only half listening though; most of my mind was still floating around in the ocean.

After quietly walking back through the house, seeing Charlie was already asleep, I went through my nightly routine and climbed into bed. I figured I would have a sleepless night because I was in a new place, but the swimming apparently wore me out and I was having dreams of how my night in the ocean _could_ have gone.

_Just leave with me now, say the word and we'll go_

_I'll be your teacher, I'll show you the ropes_

_You'll see a side of love you've never known_

_I can see it goin down, goin down_

_In my head, I see you all over me_

_In my head, you fulfill my fantasy_

_In my head, you'll be screamin more_

_In my head, it's goin down_

**Song: "In My Head" by Jason Derulo, simply because Bella can only fantasize at this point in time :)**

**Dun dun dun...lol...did that surprise anyone? So what should we do about Chad? What was up with Jacob staring at her as she unclothed? Where is Embry's head at? What happens now? I want to bring in at least one person next chapter that we haven't seen yet. Let me know who you prefer thru your reviews. Choose between Jessica, Mike, Alice, or Emmett. If nobody votes, I'll write in Victoria as an evil step mother bwhahahahahaha lol, just kidding but seriously nobody wants that. Well I don't anyways. Help me out guys and let me know what you're thinking. Hope to see you next Wednesday!**


	6. Diners, Brothers, & Emails, Oh my!

**Chapter 6-Talks & Emails**

**Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday! This chapter just kind of wrote itself. I'm actually almost finished with the next one, so I'm ahead. Yay! First, thanks to those who reviewed last chapter: _jenniper_(and for all ur support too), _iluv__.twilight2, Laylasmommy3, and kortniechey. _I know there are more who read, so thanks for reading :) This time you get to see the new character I've brought into the picture, which I'm super excited about. I haven't mentioned this before so I'll say it now: I DONT own Twilight or any of it's characters. I just play nicely with them...well, sometimes :) Hope you like it!**

**Song: "I like it" by Enrique Iglesias. It has nothing to do with anything that happens in this chapter I just like the song ;)**

I woke up the next morning with the sun shining directly in my face. Ugh, I definitely need to get some curtains to put over my blinds on the windows. Usually the sun wasn't such a problem around here. The house was quiet so Charlie had probably snuck out early for work. Poor guy hardly ever gets a day off. I made my way to the kitchen and found a note taped to the refrigerator.

_Bella,_

_Gone to work. Be in around 6. I rented a U-Haul for you today to get your stuff from the old house. Jacob will take you. Go over when you're ready._

_Love, Dad_

Well, I had planned on going out with Leah and Angela today to get acquainted with this tiny town. Leah wasn't supposed to pick us up until two, so did that leave me enough time? I turned to the clock and it was only 8 am, but who knows how long it will take to load a U-Haul.

I splashed some water on my face in an attempt to wake myself up; I would just take a shower when we got back. I threw on some brown capris and an old t-shirt. I didn't need to look fancy moving bedroom furniture, right?

I was nervous walking up to the Black's house, not knowing if I would be waking them up or not. I lightly tapped on the screen door and I heard Billy's wheelchair moving across the floor from inside. He opened the door with a huge smile on his face.

"Good morning Bella. Charlie told me to be expecting you."

"He left me a note saying Jacob would be taking me to the old house to get my stuff?" It was a statement, but it came out sounding like a question.

"Of course he will. He hasn't woke up yet, but that makes it all the more fun," he said, laughing and turning his chair around and making his way to what I assumed was Jacob's room.

While Billy was gone, I noticed in the middle of the fireplace mantle a family portrait of Billy, Jacob, and Sarah. Jacob was such a mixture of the two of them that it was uncanny. Beside that picture stood several others of Jacob throughout the years and right at the end of the mantle were ones of him and a little girl holding hands. I took a step closer and yep, that was me. It was weird to think we use to be that close and now we were practically strangers.

Billy came rolling back out as I decided to take a seat on their brown couch, "He'll be out in a minute. He's not really a morning person."

After a few minutes, Jacob came walking out in a tight-fitting black shirt, khakis, and flip flops. His eyes landed on me and his frown broke into a half-smile.

"Morning, Bells."

I nodded my head.

"Embry and Quil will be here soon. I just called them."

"Why?"

He smirked, "You don't think just you and I could carry all that stuff out of your room? I'd be better off by myself."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked offended.

"I remember how clumsy you are. You'd probably find someway to hurt yourself even if I just gave you a pillow to carry."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Billy interrupted. "Now, now, Jacob that's enough. I don't want to have to break up a fight and then have to explain to the neighbors that you got beat up by a girl, so close your mouth."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Charlie gave me forty bucks so we could get some breakfast and possibly lunch if it takes that long, but I doubt it will."

"Where's there to eat breakfast around here?" I asked.

"I was thinking we go to Sue's Diner, it's the best. Leah and Seth's mom owns it. It's all home cooked stuff."

Before I could respond, the door was thrown open by Quil with Embry trailing behind him. They walked in like they lived here too, but then I reminded myself again that everyone around here was like family.

"Couldn't go all morning without seeing me, could you Bella?" Quil taunted without even saying hi.

"Oh, you know it," I said in the least enthusiastic voice I could muster.

He plopped down on the couch beside me and leaned in, "You could have just called me over to your place and we'd have some privacy." He was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're not that lucky."

"Ohhh, so now we're playing hard to get?"

Jacob interrupted our little episode, "Okay, let's get this show on the road. We're going to Sue's first and then we'll head to the house. This shouldn't take long."

I was looking at Jacob as he was talking but out of the corner of my eye I saw Embry standing quietly beside the TV, having not said one word yet. I glanced over and he seemed to feel my gaze. He looked at me and our eyes met. He smiled like he was reassuring me everything was okay. I bet he was still feeling weird about what almost happened last night.

"Let's go." Jacob seemed to be ready to get this moving, or he was just really hungry. After seeing them devour all that food last night, I'd place my bet on the latter.

Apparently we had to pick the U-Haul up in town so we all piled into Embry's small truck. There was only room for three of us in the cab, so somebody would have to ride on the back. I volunteered, but they weren't having it. Quil took one for the team and rode on the back while I sat between Jacob and Embry the whole way to the diner. The truck was a stick shift so I had to make sure my legs were out of the way so Embry could change gears. I ended up just scooting closer to Jacob who had his arm on the back of the seat, which made it easier for me to look out his window as he was giving me a quick explanation of where all the critical spots in town were. He also showed me the houses of a few of our friends. _Our friends. _I liked the sound of that.

About ten minutes later we pulled up to a diner that looked like it came out of the movie _Grease._ From outside I could see the red booths and the spinning stools situated at the bar. This place was amazing. Jacob grabbed my hand as we walked inside with Quil behind us joking about how the wind had messed up his hair. We chose a booth beside the front window and Jacob let me slide in first after I informed him that I loved the window seat. Embry sat across from me and Quil sat across from Jake.

A waitress immediately came to our table to ask us for our drink orders and then gave us some time to figure out what we wanted to eat. I was always iffy about new restaurants so I needed some opinions.

"So what's good here?" I asked the three of them.

"I usually get waffles and sausage, but I wouldn't mind having that waitress's number either," Quil responded. He looked around to see if he could spot her.

"Do you hit on everything that moves, Quil?"

"Oh, come on. Look at her. She's got legs like a mile long and I defiantly wouldn't mind having them wrapped arou…," Embry cut him off by smacking him in the back of the head.

"Dude, come on," Embry said, "Bella doesn't want to hear that."

Quil looked at him completely stunned. "You're telling me you weren't thinking the same thing? If she walked over here right now and offered you a piece of that, you're telling me you'd say no?"

I don't know why, but a sudden wave of jealousy seemed to seep through me. Embry's eyes had snapped over to mine and Quil took it as Embry was regarding my feelings and not talking about this in front of me because I was a girl, but I knew the real reason. I doubt he'd like to see me ogling over another guy until we discussed what happened last night, so he was giving me the same courtesy.

"Quil, just ask her for her number. Don't give us all the gory details in your fantasies of her, okay?" Jacob said all this while still looking at the menu. "Bells, I would recommend the french toast and hashbrowns. She puts extra powdered sugar on them."

"Hmm, I was thinking about some pancakes. Are they good here?"

"The best," they all said together. Then we all four laughed.

After placing our orders (I ended up getting the pancakes) Jacob asked what all needed to be moved from my old room. All I could think of was my dresser, my desk, my nightstand and my bookcase.

Jacob seemed taken aback, "Then why the heck are we taking a U-Haul if that's all you've got? I think Charlie overexaggerated the situation. We could probably fit all that onto the back of Embry's truck."

"Yeah definitely," Embry agreed. "It would save Charlie some money too."

Our breakfast arrived soon afterwards and once everyone got their mouths full, there was no conversation until we were all almost finished. As I was taking a sip of my orange juice, I absentmindedly moved my foot to the side hitting someone else's. I glanced up at Embry whose smirk confirmed that it was his. I then felt him slide both his feet around my heels and pull them toward him so my legs were completely stretched out. It was like our ankles were locked together in a big pile. I didn't understand his actions, yet I didn't complain either, and we went on talking to Jacob and Quil as if nothing had transpired.

Ten minutes later, Jacob slid out of the booth, Embry taking this as his cue to release my feet. Jacob pulled out his wallet and handed me two twenty-dollar bills. "This is the money Charlie gave me. Will you go pay while I head to the bathroom, Bells?"

"Sure." Embry and Quil were still finishing up what was left of their breakfast. I recognized Sue as soon as I headed to the cash register. There was only one customer and she was taking their money. As soon as they stepped aside, she noticed me and a smile spread across her face.

"Bella! I'm happy to see you're out exploring our little town. So how was breakfast? Did my little restaurant meet your Phoenix standards?" She was sincerely smiling so I knew she didn't mean anything offensive by it.

"Definitely above and beyond. It was delicious," I reassured her.

"Glad to hear it." She took my check and I handed her the money and watched the register drawer pop open.

"I don't have enough ones. I've got some in the safe, be back in a sec," she said, closing the drawer back and making her way toward the back of the restaurant.

I stood there watching the chefs and the waitresses busy with their jobs. I really needed to get a job this summer and maybe save up for a car so I can drive to school next year. Maybe Sue would let me work here. I'd have to ask. As my mind was reeling about the possibilities, I suddenly got that feeling you get when you think somebody's watching you. It was probably Embry so I didn't think about it and went back to watching how the waitresses balanced the trays because I'm not an expert on balance by any means. One waitress passed behind me and I watched as she was sporting at least seven plates. It was fascinating to me. But when I flipped my head around to watch her progression to her table, I caught a glimpse of the guy on the stool next to me turning his head back to his plate like he had been looking in my direction previously and had gotten caught. So I looked back at him. It was hard not to stare though.

I'm still not sure that I haven't entered some alternate universe. Every guy I seem to come in contact with has the potential to model for Calvin Klein. Even though I could only see his profile, he seemed to look pretty darn good. From what I could tell, he had dark, curly hair, long eyelashes, a perfect nose, and pouty lips. His shoulders and arms were big enough to rival Embry's, which is a compliment because Embry is built, not as big as Jake, but still pretty impressive. He was too busy focusing on his omelet to notice I was sizing him up, or so I thought. He turned his head to look at me. I quickly looked away. Gosh, were we in the 5th grade? I could feel him looking at me again and he wasn't wavering, so I built up my courage and turned my head back in his direction.

He was smiling and, holy crap, he had dimples. I was able to think straight long enough to give him a smile back. But nothing prepared me for his voice, "You caught me staring at you, didn't you?" he asked in this voice that only God could have created.

"Yeah, sort of."

"It wasn't in a creepy way, I assure you."

"What other way is there?" _Wow, when did I get so straightforward?_

His smile didn't waver. "Touché." Then he turned back to his food, still beaming.

"Here we are Bella. Sorry it took so long." I turned and saw Sue making her way back to the register.

I accepted my change from her and we chatted about my plans with the guys for today. She had heard of my plans with Leah and was happy to see that her daughter was making new girlfriends. I noticed that Jacob was now back at our table, so they were probably ready to go. I told her I'd see her around and I turned to leave. I couldn't help it; I had to glance back at the dimpled guy…who was looking at me _again_.

"What?" I asked, somewhat disturbed now that he was blatantly making himself known.

"I take it from your conversation with Sue that you're just visiting?" He mused.

"Yeah, I'm visiting my dad for the summer. I live in Phoenix."

"So a city girl?" I nodded. "I'm Emmett, by the way."

"Bella."

"I heard." He motioned toward Sue. "Are you Bella, as in Bella Swan?"

"Yeah?" I said, even though it sounded like a question. I was wary of people who knew me before I told them who I was.

"Chief Swan's daughter. He's told me about you. Don't worry, nothing embarrassing, just little things here and there."

I still continued to stare at him with a questioning look. "Why would he talk to you about me?"

"He and my dad are friendly. My dad owns the local grocery store in Forks. Whenever he buys groceries we chat and you come up sometimes."

"Hopefully it's nothing bad."

"Definitely not."

As Emmett said this, Jacob came walking up flanked by Quil and Embry. He threw his arm over my shoulder and gave Emmett a questioning look.

"Ready to go Bella?" Jake asked, still looking at Emmett who seemed unaffected by his actions.

"Sure, if you guys are." I turned back to Emmett. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too, Bella. I'll see you around." He gave me one last smile acting as if my Quileute bodyguards weren't even there.

The car ride was tense and that's putting it mildly. Jacob wasn't as talkative as he had been on the way to town earlier. Embry was still being his quiet self, but something was still off. They stopped by the U-Haul store to inform them we wouldn't need one of their trucks and asked them to call Charlie and notify him of the cancellation. When we arrived at the old yellow house, they went straight to work without one word. They were like machines. It was a sight to see. The only thing they seemed to need more than one person for was my dresser. Quil and Embry were upstairs getting it when I found Jacob outside in Charlie's shed looking for some rope to tie everything down with.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"Nope." He said it too quickly. Was he upset about something?

"You okay?"

"Fine," he said in that same clipped tone. He definitely was anything but fine.

"I know I don't know you that well, but you seem…..mad?"

He stopped rifling through the box he was looking in and looked me straight in the eye. "I'm just a little upset that Emmett McCarty has already sunk his claws into you."

I couldn't help but giggle, which was a big mistake. It made Jacob's face turn a nasty shade of red. "Sorry to laugh, but 'sunk his claws into me?' We had a small conversation about me staying here over the summer. What's the big deal?"

"He's arrogant and rich and thinks he's better than everybody else, that's what the big deal is." His voice was staring to get louder.

"He seemed fine to me." I was starting to get heated. Where did he come off telling me why I shouldn't talk to somebody?

"Oh, I bet he did." He said sarcastically.

"Just because you don't like somebody, I'm not allowed to like them either?"

"Yes, Bella, that's exactly what I said." Sarcastic again.

"What has he ever done to you?" I was sincerely curious what could get a rise out of Jacob like this. Yesterday he seemed like a cool person.

"He's done nothing to _me_. He's an over pompous jock who enjoys girls flocking all over him."

"Aren't you a jock who has girls flocking all over you?" I knew that would press his buttons.

"It's not the same. I don't flaunt it." His voice had gone back to a normal volume by now, so I lowered mine down too, almost like I was comforting him.

"He wasn't hitting on me if that's what you're worried about. He didn't ask for my phone number or anything."

Jacob was rummaging through the boxes again, keeping his eyes cast down. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just think that since we grew up together, practically brother and sister, that I feel the need to protect you like you _are _my sister."

"I'm a big girl now, Jake. Don't worry yourself over me, I'll be fine." With that, I turned to leave.

I stopped in the doorway when I heard him murmur, "He's not good enough for you Bella." Without even replying, I walked back towards the truck.

Jacob finally managed to locate some rope buried deep in the shed. It seemed as if he might have buried his attitude in there too, because he was acting perfectly normal after that. Maybe he just needed to get it all out in the open and then he'd be fine. As they were tying everything down, I noticed our predicament. We had literally crammed all of my stuff onto the bed of the truck with little to no space left. We would all have to somehow fit into the cab of the truck, which didn't look to promising.

"This is gonna be fun," Quil said as we all realized our dilemma.

"Well, I know where I'm sitting," Embry said jumping behind the wheel before any of us had even made a move.

"I can sit in the floor since I'm the smallest," I suggested.

"That would be great Bella, but I doubt there's enough room. Plus, it would be just wrong for us to make you sit in the _floor_." Quil emphasized the last word like it was the most disgusting thing I could do.

Quil took initiative and slid over to the middle seat, effectively leaving room for only one more person. Jacob brushed passed me and jumped into the passenger's seat.

"Problem solved," I said sarcastically throwing my hands in the air.

Jacob smiled. "Shut up and get over here." He motioned me to him.

I walked closer and Jake took my arm and spun me around to where my back was facing him. He put his hands under my arms and lifted me up like a child into the truck. He sat me in his lap and thoroughly checked to make sure we were all the way in before he shut the door (with some difficulty, I might add). He rolled the window down, which was tough, to make the space seem less cramped. Jacob had spread his legs so I wasn't sitting directly on him; I was hanging off the edge of the seat. Uncomfortable? Yes.

As we went back through Forks, I searched for the grocery store Emmett may have been referring to, but I didn't dare mention it to Jacob for fear of him losing it again. I leaned back against his broad chest and stared out the window most of the way back, almost falling asleep because he was so warm. Jacob pointed out places that he didn't mention on the way down here, seeing as that was when he was harboring all his anger. I rolled my eyes at this thought. He actually believed he had to save me from the guys around here like he was my big brother. I had only been here one day. _One day_, and already I was getting treated like a damsel in distress.

The ride back to La Push was filled with Quil inviting me to sit in _his_ lap and Jacob retorting that I was safer in his. Embry actually spoke up and offered once, which shocked to heck out of me. I think Embry was developing a _thing_ for me and I wasn't sure if that was healthy. I've seriously considered having a _thing_ for him too, but it wouldn't lead anywhere. I was leaving at the end of the summer. He knew that. I knew that. It would just be best to squash it here and now. After all, it's not like we were in love. That would have made it worse. The attraction was simply physical. I mean, we'd only known each other for 24 hours.

When we got back to the new house, I instructed the boys on where to place my stuff so I could jump in the shower. While in the shower I could hear thuds as they walked up and down the hall setting up everything where I had told them to. When I was finished, the house was completely quiet so I assumed they had left. I wrapped my towel around me and headed to the kitchen to get something to snack on for lunch. I was walking down the hall looking at a hangnail and before I knew it someone came walking out of my dad's bathroom and slammed right into me. Luckily, I didn't fall and expose all my hidden parts, but I crashed into the opposite wall.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Bella." My worst nightmare was coming to life.

"It's okay Embry. I didn't realize anyone was still here." I looked down to make sure my towel was still intact due to the fact that he was staring at me like he had seen a ghost. It was thankfully still there.

"I just wanted to talk to you….you know….alone." This wouldn't be good.

"Umm, no problem. Can you give me a minute to get dressed?" I pointed towards my room.

"Yeah, sure." He nodded his head.

I quickly ran to my room and threw on some sweats. I looked around and noticed what a good job they did placing my stuff. Now it actually looks like a person could live in here. I saw that they sat my ancient computer on my desk and hooked it up for me. At least Charlie was considerate enough to get me internet access. I pressed the power button to get the computer booted up, which would probably take a while. I decided that this conversation with Embry shouldn't take place in my bedroom, so I made my way to the living room to have the most uncomfortable talk of my life. The sex talk didn't even compare.

I noticed the living room was empty and I heard a cabinet close in the kitchen. Embry was standing at the counter making sandwiches. He looked up as I walked in.

"I figured you were heading in here when we had our little collision in the hall and we haven't had lunch yet, so here I am. You like peanut butter and jelly right?" he asked.

"Yeah that's fine. Grape jelly, though."

"Glad you told me. I like strawberry, so I assume everyone else does too."

He finished making the sandwiches while I poured us both a glass of milk. He followed me into the dining room and we sat across from each other, neither of us knowing how to start this.

I figured I would start this out by acting oblivious. "So what did you need to talk to me about?"

He looked up from underneath his lashes, "I think you know."

"Well, I think maybe I do, but I don't want to be wrong and run the risk of looking stupid." I laughed humorlessly.

He sighed. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was coming on strong yesterday because that wasn't my objective. My intentions were purely friendly, I promise."

"I think we just put ourselves into the situation on accident and neither one of us knew how to react when it kind of just slapped us in the face."

"I feel like it's my fault because I put us in that predicament. I should've just let you swim with Jacob or something." His eyes were cast down like he was afraid to look at me.

"I think we should just put this behind us. We're treating it like a big deal and it's not." I tried to reassure him.

"You're right. I feel like I'm acting like a girl." His face finally broke into a smile.

I stood up. "Thanks for the sandwich. Do you want to watch some TV with me before Leah gets here?"

"Sure, as long as you don't make me watch 'Bridezillas' or some girly stuff like that."

"Promise."

We ended up agreeing on a rerun of 'Friends' and then a episode of 'Everybody loves Raymond.' It was nice having somebody to laugh with instead of just myself like it usually was at home. I guess I needed more human interaction than I thought.

Leah arrived about 1:45 and she and Angela walked over to my house. She kind of gave me a weird look when she discovered Embry and me alone, but since I was in the recliner and he was on the couch, she didn't read too much into it. I told Embry I'd see him later as I made my way to Leah's Honda and he walked back over to Jake's.

Thankfully, no one questioned me about my houseguest and we had a great afternoon. Leah showed us where the local high school was located for Angela's benefit and I couldn't help but feel a little jealous as they talked about their upcoming year and I remembered I wouldn't be a part of that. We stopped by the park and walked a few of Leah's favorite trials and we also played some horseshoes, which I'm horrible at. After our "tour" was all over, I was confident I knew how to navigate to the food store, the gas station, the school (even though I wouldn't need to), the police station, the park, and the post office.

By the time Leah dropped us off it was past seven o'clock and I was worried what Charlie would want for dinner. I walked in to the smell of food, but that didn't seem right because Charlie didn't cook. There was nobody in the living room or the kitchen, but there was a huge brown (yet empty) bag on the counter with 'China Garden' on the side. They had ordered Chinese without me and it sounded like they were enjoying it. I heard booming laughter coming from the dining room and I walked around the corner.

I think all the males in La Push decided to crash our house tonight. There were about ten to fifteen men piled around the table playing cards and eating. Nobody had noticed me yet. From my observation, I had no idea what game they were able to play with so many people. Jacob finally sensed my presence.

"Ahh, the princess of La Push has arrived," he said in a weird accent. Everybody's eyes had turned towards me.

"Did you leave any food for me?" I asked the group at large.

"In the fridge," was all that Charlie managed to get out.

I warmed my food up and decided my bedroom would be the best safe haven at the moment. Charlie had put a small TV and a satellite box on top of my dresser which was nice since most days he would probably be hogging the living room TV watching sports. This place was starting to feel more and more like home. I saw that I had left my computer on from earlier and it definitely had to be loaded up by now.

I opened my internet browser and then typed in my email provider. After another five minutes, I entered in my user name and password and it showed me I had six new messages. I opened the oldest one first:

_To: Bella_

_From: Mom_

_I'm about to go to bed so I decided to say goodnight since you're out with some new friends (so Charlie tells me). I'm happy you took my advice. Is Jacob still that scrawny little boy he used to be? Tell Billy I said hello and I miss him and his jokes. Message me back in the morning, I miss you already. I love you._

Well, I didn't have my internet hooked up this morning so guess who the second message was from.

_To: Bella_

_From: Mom_

_My inbox is empty young lady. There better be an excuse. It's 9am and I just called Charlie's with no answer. Do you have a hangover? Take an aspirin if you do. Call me when you get this __Love you._

I couldn't help but laugh. She was such a drama queen and she acted like me having a hangover would have been perfectly okay. That's how desperate she was for me to get some more friends. Message number three read:

_To: Bella_

_From: Mom_

_Okay I finally got in touch with Charlie and you're a busy lady I see. I called your cell phone but I guess you didn't have it with you. I hope you and your new friends are getting along well. Call me and tell me about them. Any cute boys around? Call me and I don't care how late it is. Again, I love you even though you're ignoring me _

I made a mental note to call her after I finished going over these emails and digging my cell phone out of the bottom of my suitcase. Message number four:

_To: Bella_

_From: Kelly_

_Just seeing if you had a safe flight. Hope all is well._

I snorted. That was so heartfelt. Yeah, right. Message number five:

_To: Bella_

_From: Donna_

_It's sunny today, is it raining there? How are the people? Are they annoying? Don't get stung by a jellyfish in the ocean._

Are they kidding me? Shouldn't your 'best friends' have more to say than that? It's like neither of them knew what to say. Last message:

_To: Isabella_

_From: Chad_

_I start space camp in a few days. I won't be able to send anymore emails while I'm there. Maybe we should call it off for the summer since there will be no communication. We'll see how things go when school starts again. Have a good summer._

I stared blankly at the computer screen. Did Chad just break up with me? In an email? He didn't even have the decency to do it on the phone. In the back of my mind I know I had always wished he would do it so I didn't eventually have to, but now it feels like a slap in the face. It feels degrading to be _dumped,_ especially in a freaking email.

"Knock, knock." I turned and saw Jake standing at my door with a big smile on his face but it changed into a questioning look. "What's the matter, Bells?"

I hadn't realized there were tears in my eyes. He took three strides across my room and he was by my side. He knelt down next to my chair and searched my face for an answer. I just turned my head back to the screen and I could feel him reading over my shoulder.

"Oh," he managed to breathe out. Then finally he snorted. I snapped my head around to look at him. I gave him a look that said 'what's so funny'?

"Space camp? Really? Bells, you can do better than that. Plus if he was such a coward to do this in an email then you're too good for him in the first place."

"I'm not upset over him. It's just humiliating."

"Hey, look at me." I did and he took both my hands and looked me straight in the eyes. "Don't let this guy ruin your summer. I promise you that me and the guys will make this the best possible summer of your life. You will have _so_ much fun that you won't want to go back."

Deep down inside, I hope he kept his promise.

**A/N: There we are guys. EMMETT was my new character. I looooove him and thanks to _iluv__.twilight2_(who also gave me the Chad email idea)_ and kortniechey_ for voting for Emmett. Let me know what you think and give me some ideas for upcoming chapters. Reviews really help me write better. See you next week!**


	7. Chapter 7 Making Amends

**Wow Wednesday snuck up on me this week, but thankfully I had the chapter ready anyway. A big thanks to all those who care to review my chapters and to those who have put me and the story on their faves and alerts :) Unfortunately, no new characters in this chapter but we do get to see more of a few key people. I'm glad everyone is happy that Chad is out of the picture, at least for now. Everybody seemed to enjoy Emmett's little scene too. The song for this chapter is at the end and you'll see why. *wink wink* Hope you enjoy it! **

**Chapter 7- Making Amends**

I never knew the actual reason Jacob had come to visit me in my room last night. After the declaration of his promise to me, he drug me over to my bed and we spent the remainder of the night playing 'Trouble' and laughing like kids all over again. When Quil and Embry discovered what we were up to they joined in as well. It was nice to sit here and act like a normal teenager for once in my life.

"Bella, if you win the next game I'm going home," Quil threatened.

"Why? Because you're a big, fat loser?" I quipped.

"No, because you're a big, fat cheater." He sounded like such a baby.

I did, in fact, win the next game and Quil kept to his word. It was time for them to leave anyways since it was well past midnight. Quil hugged me on his way out and Jacob followed suit. As he was hugging me he kissed the top of my head and spoke in my hair.

"I'm sorry about what happened with your boyfriend Bells, but like I said, you can do so much better than him."

"Thanks," I said letting him go. But when I stepped back I saw Embry standing in the doorway with a confused look on his face. I knew it wasn't from the fact that I had hugged Jacob, it was what he had heard him say. Jacob brushed by him telling us good night not realizing the tension that had settled in the room.

"I forgot I left my shoes in here," Embry mumbled. He picked up his shoes that were lying at the foot of the bed and went to leave.

"I can explain," I blurted out.

He stopped in the doorway and turned only his head around. "What's there to explain?" Embry now had a hard mask on his face that I wouldn't have thought him capable of producing if I hadn't saw it with my own eyes. He left me standing in the middle of my room speechless as I watched his back retreat down the hall. A few seconds later I heard the front door slam.

I lay in bed last night tossing and turning for what seemed like hours worrying about how to fix this situation with Embry. I had finally given up on going back to sleep at around 6 a.m., so here I am now sitting in the living room with a bowl of cereal watching 'I Love Lucy.' I can hear Charlie getting ready for work down the hall.

When he entered the living room he seemed surprised to see me. Most likely because not too many teenagers would wake up before 10 a.m. on summer vacation.

"Something the matter, Bella?" he asked concerned.

"No, just couldn't sleep."

"Any plans for today?"

"Not at the moment. Leah may have to work at the diner with Sue today so I wouldn't have a ride anyway."

Charlie smiled for some odd reason. "Are you planning on getting a car anytime soon yourself?"

I scoffed. "I wish. I was thinking yesterday I should probably get a job or something instead of just sitting around the house all summer. I could start saving for some wheels so when school starts back I won't have to take the bus anymore."

"Whatever you wanna do sweetheart, but don't waste your summer worrying about money. You'll have the whole rest of your adult life to do that." With that, he smiled and put on his gun holster. "There's some fish in the freezer if you want to throw it together for dinner. I'll be home around six."

"Okay dad. Have a good day."

"You too, Bells." It didn't escape my attention that he called me Bells. I think Jacob got it from him.

To pass the rest of the morning, I started a load of laundry that was mostly Charlie's since I had only been here a few days. I tackled the dining room next. Obviously, last night after the guys were finished, they just simply left without bothering to clean up after themselves. Chinese takeout containers and poker chips were scattered everywhere. The kitchen wasn't as bad, but it was in dire need of a mopping. I spotted Angela out of the window above the sink sitting on the porch next door. I should invite her over to hang out when I get finished.

First, I need to call my mom. She's probably having anxiety attacks by now. I dug through my duffel bag in my room. Not where most teenagers would have their cell phones, but I wasn't really expecting any important calls other than my mom.

It rang once. "Bella?" My mom sounded like she had been holding the phone in her hand waiting for that first ring.

"Hey mom." I tried to sound casual, like I hadn't been purposely dodging her phone calls since I had got here. I really hadn't, it just seemed to slip my mind to call her.

"Where have you been? I thought you had completely forgotten about me already."

"I've just been keeping busy, like you said." That ought to get her.

"Oh….well, I guess I did say that. But you could've at least given your loving mother a courtesy call." She was teasing now.

"I know, but I figured you wouldn't miss me until I was at least here for a week or two," I joked back.

"I missed you as soon as you go on the plane. So anyways, enough with the mushy stuff. How is Forks? Rainy?"

"Actually, it's been pretty sunny. Unusual, I know."

"Wow, sounds like you went at the right time. Have you talked to anybody from here yet?"

This was her way of subtly asking me if I'd talked to Chad, Kelly, or Donna. "I got emails from Kelly and Donna. Chad's was more of a break-up letter."

"WHAT? You're kidding me, right?" She had never really been that keen on Chad, so this probably didn't help.

"It's for the best mom. You know how boring he was."

"Well, whatever. He should have felt lucky that you gave him the time of day." She was sounding snippy now.

"So how's Phil?" I thought a change of subject might be in order.

"He's fine, and he loves the fact I can watch his practices now. He likes to show off like a little kid. The coach acted like he was going to throw me out of the practices yesterday if Phil didn't straighten up. It was so funny." This was my mom. Always the one I could depend on to make me laugh. But also the one I couldn't sidetrack for too long. "You didn't tell me what Kelly and Donna had to say, sweetie."

"They didn't have much to say. Just hey, how are you, is it raining? The usual."

"They're not much on talking, huh? How are the people up there?"

"The people here are…different than what I'm use to. A good different. I've made a lot of friends so far."

"Have you seen Jacob and Billy?" I knew she always loved the Black family.

"Yeah, I've seen them both."

"And?" she pushed.

"Well, Billy's the same. Always smiling and happy. Jacob's changed. Not in a bad way. He's grown up really well."

"Meaning? He's hot?" Typical Renee.

"Mom! No, I mean, I guess he could be considered….I haven't looked at him like that. He's like my brother. We've actually got into a little fuss already."

"About what?"

"I was talking to this guy at the diner and he got mad because he don't like they guy. Jacob says he's a rich jock who enjoys a lot of attention. He seemed fine to me."

"Was he cute?" _What is up with her?_

"Yeah, a little."

"What's his name?"

"Emmett."

"Ooooo, I like that. Very masculine."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, mom, I'm going to see if Angela wants to come over and hang out with me for a bit. I'll call you in a day or two."

"Okay, honey. I love you and I'm really glad you're doing well there. I was worried you wouldn't."

"Thanks mom. Talk to you soon and I love you too."

After I hung up, I looked back out the kitchen window and saw Angela was now reading a book. I unlatched the window and threw it open.

"Ang!" I shouted, but not that loud. Like I said before, our houses are really close together.

She jumped and looked up. "Yeah?"

"You want to come over. We can have some girl time."

"Sure, let me tell my parents."

Ten minutes later, Angela and I were in my room. She was sitting on the bed while I was trying to figure out where to unpack and put the rest of my belongings. I usually did well alone at home, but since I came here, it felt nice to have someone to talk to; even if it was just asking for opinions on the decorating of my room.

Angela and I were alot alike so it made it easier for me to talk to her. She never pushed when she could tell I didn't want to talk about something and I never heard her speak badly about anybody. Not even the lame girls at the cookout the other night. I know I had only known her for a few days, but she had already surpassed Kelly and Donna on my best friend list. Sad, right?

"So how was moving yesterday with _the boys_?" she exaggerated the last words and laughed at herself.

"It was fun, awkward, aggravating, and weird, all at the same time."

"Explain."

"Fun because, well you know, they're a lot of fun. Awkward because we had to cram into the cab of Embry's truck on the way back so I kind of had to sit on Jacob's lap. Aggravating because Jacob got mad at me for talking to a guy at the diner. Weird because even though I barely know them, I feel like we're already family."

She nodded her head thoughtfully. "So what's with the guy at the diner?"

"His name is Emmett. His dad owns some grocery store in Forks and apparently Jacob doesn't like him."

"Oh, McCarty's Grocery? Yeah, we use to go there all the time. Lots of hot guys working in there. I wonder which one he is. I was too distracted by most of their looks to check out their name tags," Angela said as she laughed.

"He's got dark, curly hair and dimples," I explained, pointing out his most prominent features.

"Oh yeah, he's usually stocking shelves when I come in. He's a major cutie. So why doesn't Jacob like him?"

"He told me he feels the need to protect me like a big brother and this guy isn't good enough for me."

"Geez. If he's going to protect you like a big brother then you're screwed. Nobody's going to come around you with him standing by your side." She laughed.

"I don't know. Emmett didn't seem phased by him."

"That's a good sign. Maybe he's a keeper," she suggested.

"I doubt I'll ever see him again. Besides, I don't plan to date anybody around here. I'm leaving at the beginning of August, remember?"

"True. So I guess that answers my question about Embry." Her statement took me completely by surprise. I spun around to look at her so fast that I'm sure she knew something was up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Leah and I walked in on you too hanging out. I didn't know if there was more to it than that. But obviously there's not if you aren't interested in dating anyone."

I was quiet for a few seconds. _Should I tell her? Should I not tell her?_ "Angela, can I tell you something in complete confidence?"

"If you want, but you don't have to if you don't want to talk about it." This is why I liked her. She'd be here when I needed her.

"I trust you."

"Then talk away." She smiled.

"The other night in the ocean, Embry and I had a _moment._"

"A moment?" she questioned.

"Yeah. There was a point where our faces were like centimeters apart and I could feel that he wanted to kiss me and I kind of wanted it to, but I turned away."

"Is there a reason why?"

"Well, I kind of had a boyfriend back home."

"Does Embry know about him?"

"No, which made this whole situation worse."

"What happened?"

"Chad, my boyfriend, broke up with me in an email yesterday and while I was reading it, Jake walked in. I showed it to him and later on when he left he told me he was sorry about what happened with my boyfriend and Embry heard."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah, uh oh is right. Embry is completely mad at me. I can tell. We both agreed to act as if nothing had happened between us but I know he's upset because I kept that from him."

"Did you try to explain?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, but he just blew me off and asked what there was to explain." I paused, thinking back to when he said it. "That hurt."

"I'm sure it did, but think about how he's feeling. He probably thinks you were kind of using him in a way. I think you would be upset if you found out Embry had a girlfriend that he didn't tell _you_ about." She was right, of course.

"I wish I could talk to him and explain. I never meant for anything to happen with him, so I never thought telling him about a stupid boyfriend back home would matter."

"Maybe you'll get your chance soon. I mean, you live right beside one of his best friends." She smiled at that.

Little did I know, Angela's prediction would come true sooner than I could have imagined. Angela had gone home about an hour after our talk, saying her parents wanted to check out the movie theater in Port Angeles tonight. That left me alone again in an empty house until Charlie got home.

I decided to check my email to see if Kelly or Donna had launched me anymore sentiments lately. _Nada_. My inbox was empty other than a few spam ads offering me increased male performance. Where do I get these from? I rolled my eyes and pushed away from my desk. It looks like it was a movie night for me too, except I would be alone and most likely watching ones I'd already seen.

I had plopped down on my bed and decided on watching "Mrs. Doubtfire." A classic. Maybe it would help my mood some. All of a sudden (as Robin Williams was getting his makeover), I heard shouts coming from outside. My blinds were closed so I couldn't see if there were people out there or not. It sounded as if it were coming from towards the Black's house. Surely they weren't having another cookout this soon, right? It got quiet after the initial yells, but then they started again after a couple of minutes. What was going on? I jumped off my bed determined to see who was interrupting my movie.

I pulled my blinds up in one quick motion and saw no one in the small space of yard in between our houses. What I did see what Jacob, Quil, and Embry standing in the room directly across from mine with the window open. They seemed to all be focused on one certain point on the other side of the room and they looked like they were holding something. After watching them for a minute, they broke out into shouts and jeers again.

I pushed open my window. "Hey! Is there a reason you guys are being so loud?"

Quil was the one who heard me. He turned around and noticed me. "Hey gorgeous, could you sense I was nearby? Wanted to get a sneak peak while I wasn't looking, huh?"

Cue the eye roll. "I have no idea what you're doing over there, but I could hear you guys over my TV."

He smiled. "Sorry. Why don't you come over and join us?"

Jacob and Embry had noticed by now what Quil was doing and Jacob sat down whatever he was holding and walked over to the window. It didn't escape my attention that Embry barely moved a muscle.

"Hey Bells!" Jake said. "Come over here and join the fun."

"What are you doing?" I wasn't giving in that easily.

"You'll have to come over and see for yourself."

"I'm not into voodoo or anything if that's what you're doing," I joked.

Jacob laughed. "Of course not, we save that for the full moons. Now come on!"

"Okayyyyy." I said, sounding defeated. I went to put the window back down.

"Hey!" Jake yelled before the window shut. I looked at him. "Just climb through the window, you'll get here five minutes quicker." He said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What if I get hurt?"

Jacob _and_ Quil rolled their eyes. "What's going to happen if you fall four feet? You'll break a nail? Just get your little butt over here," Jacob said, motioning with his hand as if he were getting impatient.

I definitely had never done this before, so I was a little skittish. I had on shorts, so I did my best to not give the boys a peep show as I was climbing out of my window. Finally, I just said "screw it" and jumped down. Surprisingly, I didn't fall and I got a slight applause. _Jerks_. Then I noticed a problem. How was I going to get _in_ their window? It was just as high off the ground, maybe higher, than my window. As if hearing my thoughts, Jacob reached his arms out of the window towards me.

"Grab on," he said. Man, this was a bad idea.

I grabbed his hands and he easily slid me into the room and placed me on my feet. I looked around. This was definitely Jake's room. It had teenage boy written all over it. He had football teams plastered all over the walls, trophies scattered here and there, and game systems spread out in front of the TV. I noticed all three of them gauging my reaction.

"So are you gonna tell me what you guys are doing now?" I asked, trying to act calm. _Trying_ because I could sense Embry looking at me and I could feel the bad vibe coming from him.

Jake held up the thing I saw him put down before he walked over to the window. It was a guitar.

"Rock Band, baby," was all he said.

I finally got the courage to look directly at Embry, who was holding a guitar as well, although it did look a little different.

"Quil, are you not playing?" I asked, noticing he wasn't holding an instrument.

"Waiting on my turn," he answered.

"I thought in Rock Band you actually had the whole band. Couldn't you….sing or something?" I felt stupid even asking, especially when they started laughing.

Jacob answered, "Don't volunteer him to sing, Bella. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Plus, we told him to try the drums, but he won't." He gestured to a pair of drums sitting in the corner.

"I can't get the hang of them, they're hard," Quil whined.

"Bells, why don't you try them?" Jacob suggested.

My first instinct was to shake my head no and sit back and watch, but I distinctly remember making a promise to myself to be more daring, and if this wasn't daring, I don't know what was. So I held out my hand for the drumsticks and slowly but surely learned how to play the drums. The guys all rotated with the guitars, but I was the only drummer. I think they just enjoyed watching a girl having so much fun playing a video game. By the end of an hour, I was in desperate need of a break. My arms hurt and my right leg ached from pressing the foot pedal so many times.

I offered to get everybody a drink and they eagerly accepted. I made my way down the hall and to the kitchen, saying hi to Billy as I passed.

"I see they've suckered you in to playing Rock Band with them," he laughed.

"How can you tell?"

"Well, first off, you're limping on your right leg. Secondly, I heard you singing along with the music a minute ago."

I blushed. Was I that loud? How embarrassing. "Sorry, Billy. We'll try to keep it down."

"No worries, sometimes I play too." With that, he rolled out of the kitchen, leaving me with a shocked expression on my face. I could just picture Billy with his long black hair rocking out to Panic! At the Disco. That was an image to laugh about.

I dug into the fridge and finally found us some sodas. I didn't realize how far I had plunged in until I went to stand up and knocked my head on the top. Hard. That was going to leave a bruise. I raised my hand to my head and gingerly touched the now-forming knot that thankfully my hair would cover up.

"Are you okay?" a deep voice said behind me. Unfortunately I still wasn't all the out of the fridge and he startled me causing my head to be smacked into the top again.

I felt sturdy arms wrap around me and the sodas being taken from my hand. I was being pulled back out of the refrigerator like I was a hazard to it. I probably was. This was humiliating.

"I think Billy wants to keep all his appliances intact, so why don't you just sit in this chair?" I heard a chair being pulled out and I was pressed into it. I knew who my rescuer was and even though I had wanted a moment to talk to him alone, I couldn't do it now that I had a chance so I kept my eyes glued on the floor.

"Thanks," was all I managed to say.

I heard a hum and then a crunching noise so I looked up and saw Embry gathering ice from the freezer. He held a plastic bag in one hand and was shoveling ice into it with the other. When the bag was almost full, he closed it and turned to me. I looked away as quick as I could. Yeah, now I'm a coward.

"I know I'm not the best looking thing, but when a girl can't even look me straight in the face it must mean I'm more hideous than I thought," he said. I could hear the smile in his voice. He was joking at a time like this? I thought I had been put permanently on his crap list.

"You _know_ you're not hideous," I mumbled, half-hoping he wouldn't hear me.

He was walking closer to me now and my butterflies were doing double-time. He squatted down in front of me and lifted the icepack to my head. I instantly felt relief. There was still throbbing, but it felt better. I finally looked up to his eyes. They were focused directly on mine. I felt my heartbeat quicken. It was now or never.

"Please let me explain," I said in a small voice that didn't even sound like my own.

Embry never once took his eyes off mine and his hand didn't move from my head. He sighed and said, "That would be nice."

I took a deep breath so my voice wouldn't break. "I had a boyfriend when I came to La Push. He's a very boring guy one of my friends begged me to date and we've just been together out of convenience." _Now to the hard part._ "Since guys back home hardly seem to notice me, I didn't think I'd be in a situation here where I would have to make it known that I wasn't single. Like I said yesterday, what happened between us kind of shocked us both. I'm sorry if you feel like I was leading you on, but I wasn't trying to and I wasn't trying to keep Chad a secret. Jacob was telling me he was sorry about my boyfriend because he saw the email he sent me breaking up with me." Wow, it felt good to get that off my chest. But now I had to hear what he thought about it.

"So Jacob knew?" Embry asked.

"Yeah, I mentioned it to him at the cookout. I just said it in passing. It wasn't like we had a conversation about him."

"You didn't seem to be thinking about Chad when you had your legs wrapped around my waist in the ocean," he said in a husky voice just inches away from my face.

My eyes widened slightly and he continued, "If you liked this Chad so much not to kiss me, why did you go along with everything else?"

"I didn't kiss you because I don't want to be considered a cheater," I said defending myself.

"Well, I'd say if _my_ girl were wrapped around another guy the way you were wrapped around me, she'd be cheating Bella." He was still using that sexy voice and now his other hand was making circles on my knee.

"I wasn't really thinking, I've never been in that kind of situation before..." I stopped short. I can't believe I just told him that.

"What do you mean?"

_Did I really need to explain it?_ "I mean…..I've never did stuff like that. I've never had a physical relationship with anyone really. All Chad and I had ever done was like a small kiss. So being with you was just different. I guess I was being selfish and wanting what I'd never had before." _How was he making me admit all this to him?_ _Stupid Quileute powers._

"So what happened in the ocean was all new for you?" He seemed surprised.

"Yeah, pretty much." I was definitely blushing now. Good thing the ice on my head was cooling me down. Between embarrassment and Embry's voice, I would have a fever by now.

Embry was now looking at me intently like he wanted to ask me something but was hesitant about it. He finally spoke. "Are you attracted to me Bella?"

"I think I've proven that," I answered, somehow with a new rush of courage.

"And you're single now?"

"Definately."

He laid the icepack down on the table and slid his hand to the back of my neck. We had been here before. Embry was looking at my mouth and I could feel his breath again. It was hot and all I could think about was tasting it. He licked his lips and I knew it was coming. I leaned slightly forward, and the hand he was holding behind my neck was pulling me closer and closer. I closed my eyes and I felt his lips graze mine. It was a soft, gentle kiss and I can honestly say I liked it. I know I didn't have much experience in the kissing area, but he was definitely a good kisser.

Embry ran his tongue along my bottom lip and I was excited but nervous at the same time. I had never kissed anyone for more than five seconds before and now I was seriously doubting my skills. Would he tell everyone tomorrow how completely horrible I was at this? Of course not. Embry wasn't that kind of person. So I gave in to my instincts and allowed his tongue to enter my mouth.

I'd like to say it was one of those kisses you see in movies where we were wrapped around each other in a moment of passion. But, alas, this is real life and I was as stiff as a board. All my concentration was focused on kissing, so my body had completely shut down. Was that normal? When I noticed my rigid posture, I decided to bring my hand up to rest on his chest.

"BELLA!" Quil called from down the hall.

Embry broke away from my mouth quickly and I jerked my hand away from him as we both looked towards the hallway. He was still knelt down in front of me and now that the moment was over it seemed quite awkward.

"Bella?" Quil called again, this time as a question.

"Yeah, coming!" I called, standing up at the same time Embry did.

He gave me this look that told me he didn't really know what to say. Which I couldn't blame him, I had no idea either.

"Was that okay?" he finally said.

I wasn't sure if he was asking me about the quality of the kiss or if he was making sure his actions were acceptable. Either way, it was the same answer.

"Yes, of course," I said.

"Good," he said quickly, as he grabbed me again by my neck and pressed my lips to his.

I must not have been bad at this if he decided to kiss me again. This thought gave me a new boost of confidence and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer to me. Embry must've liked my new found enthusiasm because his hands made their way to the small of my back and a slight moan escaped from him.

"Hm Hm." We both jumped a foot away from each other at the sound of a fake throat clearing at the kitchen door.

Quil was standing there with his hands in his pockets and a smug grin on his face looking between the both of us.

"Find more than sodas in the kitchen, didn't we Bella?" he said.

"Very funny Quil," I replied as he walked over and grabbed a soda that had been laid on the table.

"I would say 'hurry up, you're missing out on all the fun', but I think you found your own bit of fun," he laughed as he walked back out of the kitchen. Embry threw a bag of chips at him, which only served to make him laugh harder.

After that little fiasco, I decided not to risk being caught again and made my way back to Jake's room, Embry following in my wake.

**Song: "My First Kiss" by 3OH!3 and Kesha**

**Ahhhhh, perfect song choice if I must say so myself. I hope everyone liked Chapter 7. My good friend Jennifer suggested seeing another Cullen show up soon...and I think I agree. Let me know in your reviews which Cullen you would like to see next. I've only just begun the next chapter so it should be easy to fit one in somewhere. Please let me know what you like and don't like. See you next week with another chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8 Extracurricular Activities

**Hey guys, yeah I know it's Friday. I really wasn't ready by Wednesday this week and after discussing it with my friend Jennifer I'm thinking I should change my update day to Friday, mainly because I don't usually work on it much on the weekends anyway and this gives me Mon-Thurs to get you guys out another chapter instead of only like 2 days. Sorry if this screws anybody up but that was def not my intention. I think this is my longest chapter yet. I tried to cram alot of goodies in there for ya so I hope you like it. Let me know what you think :)**

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Chapter 8-Extracurricular Activities

Song: "Alive" by P.O.D

Over the next week and a half I spent the majority of my time at Jacob's. I'm not proud to say it, but I became rather addicted to Rock Band. Eventually, Embry sweet-talked me into singing a few songs instead of playing the drums and I have to admit, I loved feeling like a rock star as I heard my voice boom out of Jacob's surround sound speakers. Billy would even join us when his ball games went to commercials. We had yet to convince Charlie to try it out, but I could tell we were wearing him down and it would only be a matter of time until he was playing his first guitar solo.

Some days it was just Jake and I when Quil and Embry had other places to be. I would have thought this situation would have felt awkward but it turned out some of those days were the best ones I spent there. It was nice to sit around and talk about old times in between sets on the game. One of the most memorable yet painful talks had been the first time he mentioned his mom.

_We had just finished our last set in San Francisco on Rock Band and Jacob and I were indulging in some ice cream. I hadn't mentioned my love for hot fudge but somehow Jacob knew and had bought all the fixings yesterday for hot fudge sundaes, so I was ecstatic. The way to my heart was definitely through chocolate._

"_Mmmm, I think I've fallen in love," I said through a mouthful of vanilla ice cream._

_Jake laughed, "With me or with the sundaes?"_

_I pretended to think. "Both. Definitely both."_

"_It's easy to do," he joked back._

_I made sure to scrape my bowl completely clean as to not waste any of the sugary goodness. Jacob seemed to have to the same idea because we had settled into a comfortable silence and all you could hear was silverware on china. Apparently, he effectively finished before me considering he spoke first._

"_Do you remember when my mom would make us these on Saturday nights when we were little?" He had a smile on his face which told me this was a happy memory, not one he chose to mourn over._

"_Oh yeah, I had forgotten. She's the one who taught us how to make them, but hers were always the best."_

"_Yep. Remember you use to call her Sundae Sarah? I think she loved that. She would get this huge smile on her face every time you said it." He had this far away look on his face like he had been transported back to the days when he continually saw that smile._

"_You do know that you have her huge amazing smile, right?" I asked, interrupting his thoughts._

"_Do I really?" He looked at me like I had just given him the best gift. "Maybe one day I'll pass it on to my kids and then I'll be able to see her everyday in them."_

_By now I had tears in my eyes. I was willing them not to fall because I assumed it would make it harder on Jacob. He glanced up and apparently saw how tears were threatening to spill over and he surprised me by jumping out of his chair to cross the room and comfort me. I should be the one comforting _him_._

"_It's okay Bells. She wouldn't want you to cry for her. She's in a better place." All I could do was nod my head. "She really loved you, you know? You were like a daughter to her."_

_I laughed a little at his statement. "Sarah made me feel so at home around here. She was probably the sweetest, most kindhearted person I've ever met or ever will meet."_

"_I remember she use to always joke about us getting married one day. It would have made her happy to make you officially part of the family," he laughed._

_I tried to laugh with him, but his statement made the atmosphere thick with awkwardness. I had no idea what to say to that. I racked my brain for a witty comeback or a memory to share, but I had nothing, so I picked the next best thing._

"_Ready to play some more songs?" I said, kicking myself for ending our once-pleasant conversation._

I still had to laugh at the fact that some small mention of a relationship with Jake had embarrassed me somewhat. He called himself my brother and that was definitely not something a brother and sister shared. But if I thought the first mention of his mom was awkward, it was nothing compared to the next time we talked about her.

"_YES! I can't believe I actually finished that song on the 'hard' setting," I exclaimed after one particularly difficult song._

"_You are definitely one to be reckoned with," Jake laughed. "Hey, you want a soda?"_

"_Sure, I'll come with you. My pedal foot deserves a much-needed break."_

_We made our way to the kitchen (I let him get the drinks) and sat down at the small wooden table. I noticed how quiet the house was._

"_Where's Billy? I don't hear the usual TV sounds from the living room," I asked._

_Jake looked at the clock on the stove. "Well, it's around 4 and it's Wednesday, so he's most likely at Harry's."_

"_Let's watch some TV then," I said, jumping up and making my way to their sofa._

_I let Jacob choose since it was his house and he stopped on 'Three's Company.'_

"_I love this show, I'm glad you chose it," I laughed._

"_I know you do. I remember things," he said. I looked at him and he winked, which reminded me..._

"_I completely forgot to ask you about what you meant at the bonfire about kissing me."_

_He burst out laughing. "You don't _really _wanna know, do you?"_

"_Uh, _yeah_," I said, like it was the most obvious answer._

"_Okay, you asked for it." He jumped up off the couch and walked to the bookcase where old photo albums seemed to be lined up. He picked up one that was beige with the 'Precious Moments' logo written across it and their trademark boy and girl characters on the front. He sauntered back over to me with a smirk on his face and he actually plopped down beside me forcing me to hold my drink more steadily._

_We spent the next half hour flipping through this book that can only be described as a timeline from when Jacob and I were born until Sarah died. She seemed to capture every moment we were together in some form of a picture. There were ones where we were obviously newborns and ones where we had just begun to walk. My favorites were of Jacob and I dressed up for church. He would be in a cute little suit and they had put me in a matching dress._

_It didn't go unnoticed to me that Jacob's eyes would tear up when he saw a picture of his mother. I could tell it was still hard for him, but he held it together._

"_Aaaaand, here's the picture you've been waiting for." Jacob turned the page all dramatic and showed me proof that we had kissed. I was wearing a white dress with a pink sash around my waist, and he was wearing black pants and a white shirt. Did we just come from church here too?_

_From the looks of the picture, Jacob had leaned over most of the way and I just had room to pucker my lips before they met his. It was the most innocent yet adorable thing I had ever seen. Again, the situation became uncomfortable for me, but Jacob seemed undeterred. He had his arm thrown around the back of the couch around me and was rubbing my arm, but when I looked at him he was still smiling at the picture. Maybe I could get use to this easy relationship with him. I had to teach myself that it was okay to be close to a male, especially one that is like your brother._

_Then he pulled out a picture of us lying on his bed sleeping around the age of four. "This is why I said I had slept in the same bed as a girl when I was asked at the bonfire," he explained._

These memories of the past week or so had kept me occupied today as I sat around the house doing nothing. When I wasn't at Jake's, I would spend time with Angela and Leah. They continuously made my days better. Angela with her quiet but hilarious jokes, and Leah with her honest but cruel humor. Today, though, Leah was working again and Angela was shopping for school clothes in Port Angeles. School was still almost two months away, but I guess her mom liked to get things done.

I didn't go over to Jacob's today because usually when he was ready for me to come over, he would open his window, but it had stayed shut all day. I knew it was nothing personal, but I hated not being able to go over when I wanted. I also knew that he had his own life and I shouldn't expect him to always keep me in the forefront of his mind.

It had been three days since I last saw Embry. No more kisses had been shared since the initial one in the kitchen a week ago, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I'd taste him again. Even though we never had any alone time, Embry conveyed to me through his actions that he wanted me. Hopefully, I did a good job on showing him the feeling was mutual.

At first, he would simply wink at me when no one was looking. Then it turned into small caresses on my hand or my thigh that looked completely innocent but I could feel the heat behind them. We hadn't discussed the fact that we were keeping our attraction a secret, but it seemed it was a mutual unspoken agreement. I didn't see any need to make a big deal out of nothing, which is what would happen is everyone knew we had even the smallest of a connection.

I broke out of my thoughts and checked out my window again to see if Jake had decided to open his window. Nope, still closed. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye in the backyard. Jake had just come out of their small garage and he was covered in grease. He must have been putting to practice one of his favorite hobbies.

Since it was lunch time I decided to busy myself with making a sandwich and possibly watching some daytime television. After I had eaten my fill and got about as much as I could take of soap operas, I made my way to my room to take a nap. I was just about to doze off when something or someone tapped on my window. _Ugh._ I was almost asleep. Couldn't whoever it was come back in a couple of hours? But the tapping didn't cease, so eventually I had to drag myself out of the bed and pull up the blinds on the window.

There in all their glory stood the three most beautiful guys in La Push. _Wow, did I just say that?_ Anyway, Quil, Embry, and Jacob were standing outside my window in swimming trunks and tight tank tops. I hoped I wasn't drooling. I opened the window and gave them a questioning stare wondering what brought them here.

"'Sup Bella?" Quil asked.

"I was actually trying to take a nap. What do you guys need?" I tried not to sound rude, but disturbing me from sleep was one of the worst things you could do.

Embry answered, "We're all going to the cliffs and figured you may want to come too."

"Umm, the cliffs? You mean life jumping off the cliffs?" I stuttered. I hope I was misunderstanding him.

"Yeah, it's fun. You should try it at least once," Embry urged.

"Once is all it takes for me to bust my head open on one of those sharp rocks."

They all three rolled their eyes at me like usual. "We've done it hundreds of time and we're fine. You really think we'd let something happen to you anyway?" Jacob asked.

I didn't want to be a complete wimp but I had the worst luck when it came to taking risks. I seemed to always get hurt by even the smallest things.

"Okay, give me five minutes." It was out of my mouth before I could even control it. I just couldn't say no to these guys. That could turn out to be a bad thing.

"Nice!" Quil yelled.

"Meet us all out front when you're ready," said Embry.

I changed into my bikini that took forever to adjust considering I had only told them it would take five minutes. The bottoms tied on each side and the top tied in the back and around my neck. I put on some shorts and a t-shirt over it. I left a note for Charlie telling him where I'd be and I slipped my phone into my pocket just in case anyone needed to get in touch with me.

When I walked out my front door all the guys from the bonfire and Emily were there. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the fact that Leah and Angela weren't going. I had barely spoken to Emily since we were introduced. Jacob noticed my presence first and he alerted everyone else that it was time to go.

"Bells is here so we can get this show on the road," he said.

Everybody began piling onto the bed of Embry's truck. Embry caught my eye and smiled.

"You can ride up front with me pretty lady," he said, holding his arm out to me.

I shyly put my arm through his and we got into his truck. I was once again put in the middle, but Seth was on my right this time. The drive to the cliffs wasn't long and we spent most of it in awkward silence. Seth would make comments now and then showing me the things La Push had to offer and Embry would slightly rub my leg each time he had to change gears.

Finally, we came to a stop at the base of what looked like a hill. Everyone unloaded and I followed them as they made their way to the trail that was clearly etched in the earth. I walked with Seth most of the way. He seemed to know that I would have trouble so he stayed by my side and told me what to look out for before we got to it.

"There are sharp rocks you're gonna have to dodge, so keep a look out for them." was one of his warnings that I couldn't help but appreciate.

After we got passed the rough part of the mountain, I was able to look up and I noticed Jake was nowhere in sight. I turned around and there he was trekking behind me. He must have sensed my gaze because he looked up and smiled at me. I smiled, but quickly turned back to make sure I didn't trip over anything.

Once I was successfully out of breath, we finally reached the top. Just the view you get from here was certainly worth the treacherous hike. I was standing a few feet from the edge looking towards the horizon when a felt a small wind pass by me. I turned just in time to see Jared sprint passed me and jump off the side of the cliff. He did it like he was a pro. He was so graceful and carefree, which made me self-conscience because I know I would never, in a million years, look like that.

I turned to Jacob, who was the closest to me. "I don't think I can do this. Maybe I should just watch."

"You'll do fine. But you'll want to take off those clothes. It's harder to swim if you have them on," he suggested. I took my phone out to lay it on the ground and at the same time Jacob took off his shirt, keeping eye contact with me as he did so.

My jaw fell to the ground as I took in the Greek god standing in front of me. I heard him chuckle and I quickly snapped my eyes back to his face. He was still looking at me and he wore a knowing smirk.

"See something you like?"

I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe he said that. I didn't know what to say so I played the defensive. "No, shut up." _Oh, real mature, Bella._

Jacob continued to laugh as I looked around at the rest of the people that hadn't jumped yet. I thought I had died and gone to six-pack-and-abs heaven. All the guys were pretty much built in the same way. You could definitely tell they spent hours perfecting their bodies every week. Embry was the next closest to me and it took all of my control not to reach out and run my hand along his washboard stomach.

"Bella, you want to go first?" Jake said from behind me.

"No, I think I'll stay here,"…_and watch all the hotties run around with water dripping all over them._ Of course, I didn't voice _my_ ending to the sentence.

"Oh, no you're not. You are gonna do this, whether you like it or not." Jake took my arm and pulled me away from the edge. _Where were we going?_

"You're either going to go by yourself willingly or I'll take you by force." That statement from him would have probably turned me on if it wasn't for the fact he was suppose to be practically family.

His statement was rather intriguing, I have to admit. Just to see what he would do, I stood on my tip-toes and looked him straight in the eye and said, "You can't make me do anything." And that one little statement did it.

Jacob bent over and wrapped his arms around my legs, hoisted me into the air, and ran like a mad man towards the edge of the cliff. He ran like I weighed no more than a bag of flour. Before I could comprehend what was going on, we were flying in the air. I screamed at the top of the lungs and my arms flailed around my body. The impact of the water knocked the air out of my lungs, but the water was refreshing.

I felt Jacob pull me to the surface with him and as soon as I caught my breath I started yelling.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" I wasn't really mad, but it was fun to play it nevertheless. But even I couldn't make him feel bad for what he had done.

"I told you I would take you by force. Maybe next time you'll listen to me about taking off your clothes too."

I still had my t-shirt and shorts on which was very uncomfortable. I could barely stay afloat and it was taking all my energy to even try. Jacob saw my predicament and grabbed me around the waist. He pulled me to him and I hoisted myself onto his back so he could swim to the shore.

In the short time we were swimming back, I heard a laugh come from the main beach. I looked over and I could see a group of people hanging out. From here, I could tell they weren't from La Push because they looked more like me. I would have to check them out when we got back to the top of the cliff. We would be closer and I could see them a lot better.

After making it back to the jump-off, I glanced over and could tell there were five people in the small group I had spotted. Three boys and two girls. They seemed to be having just a normal day at the beach.

"Are you going to jump by yourself now?" Jacob said breaking me from my thoughts.

"No way! I would probably drown."

"Fine, take your clothes off and I'll jump with you again, but you have to learn how to be a big girl," he said with a smirk. I had the sudden urge to smack my wet t-shirt across his face.

I struggled with my wet clothes which stuck to me like glue. Quil volunteered to help take off my shorts, but a stern look from both me and Embry changed his mind. Once I was just standing in my bathing suit, I felt totally exposed. Nobody was laughing and pointing so I relaxed a little bit.

"Ready?" Jacob asked, holding out his hand.

"As I'll ever be," I replied, putting a death grip around his hand.

"One, two, three."

**_I, I feel so alive for the very first time_**  
**_I can't deny You_**  
**_I feel so alive_**  
**_I, I feel so alive for the very first time_**  
**_And I think I can fly_**

We ran (no, I didn't fall) and jumped off simultaneously. It was so freeing. It felt like we were one person falling through the air and I couldn't help but smile when I heard Jacob's loud yell echo around us. I joined in and screamed too, but this time out of pure joy. When we hit the water, I didn't let go of his hand for fear that the tide would take me. Again, we swam to the shore beside the cliff, this time I did it on my own (for the most part).

When we reached the top again, I noticed that Embry seemed sullen. He was glaring straight at me. I gave him a look that questioned his mood and he just shook his head. I wasn't going to let him ruin my fun so I decided to talk to him.

I walked over and placed my hand on his crossed arms. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure." _Nice tone, liar._

"Tell me, please."

"Tell you what? I'm fine." _There's that word again. I think it should be banned from the English language._

"Embry." I gave him a knowing look and he finally rolled his eyes.

"I just pictured today going different, that's all," he finally admitted. Yet I was still confused.

"What do you mean? How did you picture today going to be exact?"

"I don't know. Just different." His eyes darted behind me then back to my face. He probably thought I didn't notice, but I did.

I turned around and Jake was the only one even close to where he had looked.

"Are you jealous that I was jumping off with Jake?" I wondered.

"No. But I sure as hell didn't picture you running and laughing with him all day," he said. It sounded mean, but I knew he was just kind of hurt.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to," I said, trying to apologize.

"I know you didn't. It's just that we haven't had any time to spend together at all since that day at Billy's and I thought today would be a good chance to. I think I just got my hopes up to high," he explained.

"Don't say that. We still have plenty of time to make today a good day. So you wanna jump with me?"

His eyes locked with mine and he smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." He grabbed my hand so suddenly I was barely ready as we took off running towards the edge. As we jumped I felt the wind swirl around me and the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins. If this activity wasn't so tiring, I'd probably do this all day.

Without realizing it, I let my legs fly out in front of me on the way down and I landed butt first in the water. Before going under I heard a huge SMACK as my butt and the back of my legs hit the water. Then I felt it. It burned like I was on fire. The water did nothing to sooth it. Embry still had my hand and he pulled me to the surface.

He had a stunned look on his face, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. "Holy shit, Bella. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It just stings really bad," I said as I ran my hands over the sore spots.

"Come here. Where does it hurt?" _Why did he have to ask that?_

"Ummm, the back of my legs," I said as I looked down.

"That's all?" he asked skeptically.

"Y-yeah." I doubt he was convinced.

"You hurt your butt too, didn't you?" he asked, holding back a laugh.

"No, I'm fine. C'mon, let's go back up," I said, trying to swim away. He pulled me back.

"No, you're hurt. Let me make it feel better," he said in that same sexy tone he used in the kitchen a few weeks ago. _How could I say no to that?_

He put my arms around his neck, put his hands behind my knees, and pulled them around him just like he had done in the ocean the first day I was here. Except this time would be different. I was single, I was more comfortable around Embry now, and I knew what I wanted.

Embry ran his hands from the back of my thighs to my heels and back up again. After his third time of doing this, he ran his hands over my butt and smoothly pulled me closer so that our cores were touching. The coolness of the water and the warmth of his skin was enough of a combination to give me chills in a good way. He ran his hand up my sides and situated us to where only our heads were sticking out of the water (and my hands that were around his neck).

He ran his thumb across my left breast and I involuntarily jumped a little at the contact he made with my nipple. He then gave me this sly smirk that let me know he was proud of himself. Running his hands back down to my lower back, he put his thumbs at the edge of my bathing suit bottoms and slid his hands under them, one hand cupping each cheek. Embry massaged them, all the while pulling me harder and harder against him.

Suddenly something hit my back and I realized I had been so distracted with our situation that I hadn't noticed Embry swimming us towards the base of the cliff. We were out of view and if anybody wanted to see us they had to look straight down, which was not a common occurrence.

Before I knew it we were face to face again for the third time. This time it was going to count and I was completely ready for it. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. I tightened my hold around his neck and pulled him flush against me. There was so much pent up frustration from these past few weeks put into that kiss that we almost tore each other apart. All the times that he gave me those looks, all the times that he lightly touched me, they were all thrown into it. Our harsh breathing was the only thing I heard besides the water lapping around us.

I ran my hands up to his wet hair and threaded my fingers in it as our tongues fought for control. He tasted better than anything I could have ever imagined. My mind was reeling from all this happening at once but I never thought once about stopping it.

I could feel the effect I was having on him pressing against me. He was totally getting in to this. I felt his hands graze the inside seam of my bikini bottoms. When he got to my center, he pulled them to the side and exposed my area completely to the cool water. I couldn't help but hiss through my teeth at the sensation.

Embry had now moved his kissing to the side of my neck, but I was focusing on where his hands would go next. His right hand slowly made its ascension up to where I was aching for him to touch the most. When he reached my slit, he ran his fingers back and forth over my obvious wetness. I heard and felt a moan rise up from his chest. His head snapped up and his eyes were glued to mine. His eyes were hooded and you could see the lust radiating from them. Embry's mouth spread into a grin and the next thing I knew he had thrust his finger into me. By pure reflex, I moaned…..loud. I think it may have echoed off the side of the cliff. He pulled his finger back out of me and fixed my bathing suit back to its original state.

I gave him a look that simply stated: _Is that it?_

He smiled at me and pulled me towards the shore. "That's a little preview of what can happen if we get some real alone time one of these days."

_Did he really just say that?_

The rest of the afternoon was spent letting the group teach me different way to jump. I finally got enough guts to do a flip before I hit the water. I actually bonded with the rest of the guys during this time and even Emily seemed to warm up to me. You could tell she had a thing for Sam and he seemed to know it too; he spent a lot of time showing off for her.

When everyone eventually got tired of climbing back up the mountain, we decided to just head to the main beach. On the way down, I practically had three security guards the whole time. I had slipped so many times so far that Embry, Quil, Jacob, and Seth surrounded me on all sides to make sure I was caught before I fell. I actually tripped one time and smashed my face into Quil's back who had decided to take the front position. That was embarrassing.

By the grace of God I made it to the bottom without bleeding. We made it to the beach in record time and I noticed the group from earlier was still there, now lying out in the sun, which sounded like a good idea to me.

I laid a blanket from the back of Embry's truck in the sand and plopped down on it while the rest of the gang, minus Emily, ran towards a volleyball net that was set up for public use on the beach. Emily sat down beside me and smiled. We chatted about my first cliff diving experience and my desire to go again soon. She assured me they went at least once or twice a week.

From what I could see from my spot in the sand, the guys seemed to have a pretty good volleyball game going. Jacob, Embry, and Quil were against Seth, Paul, Jared, and Sam. It was a little uneven, but the smaller team seemed to be holding their own.

It caught my eye that the other group of teenagers around our age was looking towards the boys now. All five of them walked passed us headed for the court. I took this opportunity to finally see them up close (even though they were still at least 50 feet away). The guy in the front was tall and lean with blondish hair and the second guy was a little shorter with the same build, except his hair looked bronze in the sun. The two girls were walking side by side, one a small brunette with spiked hair and the other a bombshell blonde. If I wanted to keep any of my dignity, I better not stand anywhere near her. Even from this distance I could tell she was gorgeous. The last guy was wearing a backwards hat and his body rivaled those that I had been staring at all day.

I finally tore my eyes from them as they came upon the volleyball match. Sam caught the ball to stop the volleys and the new guys seemed to be asking to join the game. They seemed to be having trouble deciding on something and the blond girl kept shaking her head at the shorter girl.

Jake then turned around, shielding the sun from his face in search for Emily and I until his eyes landed on us. He motioned us towards him.

"Is he kidding?" I asked Emily.

"I doubt it. I knew we wouldn't be allowed to rest for too long," she said, laughing as she got up.

I followed her over to them wondering why they all of a sudden needed our input in whatever discussion they were having. Jacob had a hard look on his face, one that wasn't seen very often around here on anybody.

"Can one of you play because we need another girl?" he asked before we even reached him.

Emily groaned, "I'll pass. I'd rather watch from the sidelines." She looked over at Sam, who winked.

"Bella?" Jacob looked at me expectantly.

"Why do you need another girl?" I wondered.

"Well, Alice wants to play," he gestured toward the small pixie-like girl who smiled real big and waved, "but Rosalie doesn't and we wanted to make it even. You know, one girl on each team."

"Honestly, Jake, I think I would be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Just humor me. I'll even let you be on my team."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I said as stern as I could possibly manage.

The tall blonde guy and the girl I now know is Alice went over to join the other team while the rest of their group stayed with us. Jake stuck me right in front where I was sure to get my nose broken. I hoped he didn't do that on purpose. The red-headed guy was to my left and when I glanced over he gave me a crooked smile.

"How's it goin' Bella?" I heard from behind me.

I turned around to see the big guy from the other group staring at me with a wide grin across his face…and dimples. Emmett. Now I understood Jacob's shift in moods.

"Hey Emmett!" I said a little enthusiastically. I looked towards Jake and Embry who both had the same 'what the hell?' expression on their face. "I mean, I just didn't recognize you earlier with the hat on."

"Well now you know," he said while holding that gorgeous smile the whole time.

I turned back toward the game and watched as Jared served the ball first. I got in a couple of good shots at first and then I accidentally punched Quil in the chest one time. Emmett and I crashed once, but only I fell down. Alice was a firecracker. She looked like a blur running around and making saves that the boys had missed. One time she actually launched herself off of Paul's back to reach the ball. She was definately making me look bad.

I felt totally insignificant beside the rest of these players too. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought they were enjoying my misery, but nobody mentioned my slip-ups; the game just continued. But I did become completely humiliated when I accidentally hit the ball into the back of one of my teammate's heads; it was the guy that smiled at me earlier.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry…..ummm…"

"Edward," he said, rubbing the head and smiling.

"Edward, I didn't mean to do that. They really shouldn't let me play."

"It's fine. I won't be able to go to sleep for a few hours for fear of a concussion, but I'll be okay."

"Oh please, make me feel worse, would you?" I said, laughing. He laughed too and he had an intoxicating smile.

I focused back on the game, made a few more mistakes, and hit Jacob in the eye. Maybe it wouldn't be black tomorrow. As the game went on, both teams seemed to get more competitive and the ball stayed in the air for minutes at a time. Nobody was willing to relinquish a point to the other side. Emily and Rosalie even began cheering and yelling at each side.

We were playing to 21 points and the score was tied 20-20. It was our serve and we could do this. Jacob popped it over the net like a professional and Paul volleyed it right back. Quil jumped and sent it flying over their heads. Jared ran to the edge of the court and swung with all his might. It was coming in my direction and I knew I had to prove myself in these next few seconds. The ball was slightly to my left, I yelled 'I got it', and I lunged for it. My hands came into contact with the ball it went soaring, but I didn't see where it landed because as soon as my left foot hit the ground, it twisted.

I screamed as the pain hit me and I landed in the sand. The pain in my ankle was the worst I had felt to this day. Yeah, I've gotten bruises, scrapes, and scratches, but never more than that. My hand instinctively reached for my ankle and I felt and saw that it was already swollen. Hands were touching me and I could hear frantic voices all around. I willed myself not to cry which would only make this situation worse, but tears stung my eyes anyway.

Cool hands wrapped around my throbbing ankle and I hissed through my teeth in pain.

"Babe, are you okay?" I looked up and saw Embry's worried face for the second time today.

I was in too much pain to form coherent words so I just nodded my head, even though it was a big lie. Embry had kneeled beside me holding me up, so I reached for his hand and squeezed all my pain into it. I was breathing hard through my nose and someone decided to move my ankle in a circle. I screamed again, shooting from Embry's arms and reaching towards my foot.

"Sorry, sorry! Just seeing if it's broken," Emmett said.

"You're not a doctor," I retorted. It was a little harsher than I normally would have spoken to anyone, but I was in serious pain.

"Speaking of a doctor, let's get you to one," Jacob suggested from above me.

"No, I'm fine."

"Whatever martyr, let's go." Jacob leaned down and grabbed me under my knees and behind my back to hoist me off the ground.

"Put me down, I can walk," I complained as I wiggled in his hold.

"Oh really? Okay, let's see it then Superwoman," he said grinning.

As soon as my left foot hit the ground my face was falling toward the sand again. "Owwww, owww, oww, oww" was all I could say.

Jacob picked me up again with his stupid smirk. "Like I said crippled, let's go."

"That's the third name you've called me in less than five minutes. Have some manners," I shot back at him.

"Well you've earned them all."

"Ugghhhh," I growled. I finally gave up and went completely limp in his arms. To people in passing it probably looked as if he was carrying a dead body.

We were heading towards Embry's truck, but Emmett intercepted us and offered to take us in his Jeep so we wouldn't leave everyone else without a ride home. Jacob reluctantly accepted and as he was loading me in to the back seat I noticed a red convertible to our left. Nobody around here drove stuff like that so I could only assume it belonged to one of the new kids.

Emmett noticed my gaze. "It's Rosalie's. She likes sports cars," he laughed.

I laid across the back seat as Emmett and Jacob sat silently in the front on the way to the hospital. I chanced another glance at my poor ankle and I practically didn't have one anymore. It looked like my leg had molded with my foot and there was no ankle in between anymore. It had a slight purplish tint to it as well.

When we arrived at the hospital, Jacob conned me into riding in a wheelchair. I think it was so he could have a laugh, but it was fun anyway. He would push me down the hallway past old people and run to catch up with me. I would laugh until I remembered why I was here.

The hospital wasn't very busy so Emmett found a doctor quick. I was in the exam room playing tic-tac-toe with Jake when they both came through the door. Emmett looked proud of himself and the doctor looked…..young. Is he even out of med-school yet?

"Hi, Isabella Swan?" I nodded my head. "Carlisle Cullen." I shook his hand and he smiled.

"Let's take a look."

He was very gentle with my foot and he asked me basic questions about how it happened and if I'd done this before. Luckily, Jacob and Emmett were up to answering most questions he threw out at me. I was too busy studying the doctor to even pay attention though. He was very blond and looked like everyone else I had met so far this summer….completely gorgeous. But unfortunately for me, he had a wedding band on.

Dr. Cullen took x-rays of my ankle and concluded it was just a Grade I ankle sprain. He wrapped it and told me to just take a few Tylenol for the pain. I was advised to stay off of it, apply ice, and keep it elevated. He also gave me a few papers illustrating small exercises that would help my ankle return back to normal after I was able to move it again.

"It was great to meet you Miss Swan. Please tell your father I said hello."

"I will. Thanks again, Dr. Cullen."

"My pleasure."

I wished that somehow this doctor would move to Arizona and I would definitely make him my regular physician. He had such a way with words, almost as if he were from another time period altogether. It also didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes too.

On the way back to my house Jacob turned around and gave me the best news I heard all day.

"At least you won the game for us Bells. When you went down the whole other team forgot about the ball and we scored the winning point."

Good news at last.

* * *

**There you go guys. I loved the song I picked out for this chapter because the chorus totally fits the exact moment she jumps off the cliff at that point. I can just picture it in slow-mo and the song playin in the background. A little over dramatic? Maybe...lol. Give me any kind of review you deem necessary, good or bad. I really really want to know what YOU want next chapter. I'm kind of at a block. I'll probably brain storm tonight so let me know what'll make you happy. Thanks to those faithful reviewers and those who have stuck with me. This story still has a long way to go and alot of twists and turns that you will love, I promise. Until next time...**


	9. Chapter 9 Text Messages & Summer Jobs

**Happy Friday! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. The first half was kind of hard to get out on paper, but the second half just flowed. I definately didn't see the last part coming, it just sort of wrote itself and the characters took over. Other writers know what I'm talking about I'm sure...sometimes the unplanned happens and you just gotta go with it. So that's what I did. A few things I came up with are unknown territory for me so I hope you will be honest and tell me where you think I should go from here. I was a little scared about writing something so far fetched but taking chances is part of this whole thing. Thanks to all that review and my friend Jen who pre-reads this for my sake :) she's very picky and I love it, it helps me out alot. And now what you've all been waiting for...let's continue our journey in La Push... **

Chapter 9- Text Messages & Summer jobs

Song: "Summer Girls" by LFO **(not that it has anything to do with the chapter. Simply, it mentions summer, has a little romance mentioned, and its cute)**

I couldn't believe I had only been in La Push for a little over two weeks and I had already made my first trip to the hospital. Although seeing the cute blonde doctor had made me feel somewhat better, learning that I wouldn't be able to get around on my own for a day or two really pissed me off.

After Emmett dropped Jake and I off at our houses yesterday, Jake made sure that his home and cell number were programmed into my phone in case I needed him. He then proceeded to carry me to my bed where I spent the rest of the night watching Ace Ventura. Alone.

When dad finally came home from work last night and saw what kind of shape I was in, he quickly asked questions. After learning what had happened, he simply shook his head and thankfully didn't laugh. Although he did joke about not knowing how any laundry would get done now.

I felt bummed today because yesterday I had felt like I was making progress and becoming part of the group. My little incident on the volleyball court set me back because now they could all go have fun without me. I doubted they would even notice I wasn't there.

Before Charlie left for work, he brought me a bowl of cereal so I didn't have to crawl to the kitchen for some breakfast. Even though it was hard for Charlie to voice his emotions, small gestures like this showed me how much he cared. I think I understood because we're both so much alike in that manner.

Around 9 a.m. I received a text message that tore me away from my ICarly marathon.

_**Just seeing how you are. Do u need nething? – JRock**_

Since Jacob was the only candidate for this message, I began to laugh.

_**JRock? Really? Who gave u that nickname? Roxie? LOL - *Bella**_

_**Shut up. I'm tryin to be a good citizen & check up on u. – Jrock**_

_**I'm fine. Still sore. Watchin ICarly. JRock! HEHE - *Bella**_

_**That's it I'm changing it. – Jake**_

_**Better. - *Bella**_

_**Need me to come over? – Jake**_

_**I think I'll be fine. Can u give me everybody's #'s so I'll have ppl to talk to while I'm sittin here bored 2day? - *Bella**_

_**Sure. Give me a sec. – Jake**_

For the next ten minutes, I received texts from Jake telling me all our friend's cell numbers so I could record them in my phone.

Naturally, I texted Embry first.

_**Hey Em, it's me. Just lettin u know I'm ok and I miss u! - *Bella**_

Before I hit send, I thought about how it sounded. I sounded like an obsessed girlfriend. I shouldn't be telling a guy who I've only known for a few weeks that I missed him. So I changed it.

_**Hey Em, it's me. Just letting u know I'm ok. Jake gave me ur #, hope that's fine. - *Bella**_

After texting Embry, I sent a mass text out to the rest of the group telling them I was okay as well and that I'd probably be stuck in the house for the next couple of days. I received back their condolences and continued waiting for Embry's reply. After a half hour, it finally came.

_**Of course it's ok crazy! Glad we have another means of communication now. How's that ankle? – E. Call**_

_**It's fine. Sore and swollen mostly. I'm just layin around :( **__**- *Bella**_

_**U want me to bring you some lunch? **_

I was shocked at this question. That was so nice and I was hungry, but if he came it would only be him and I here. Alone. Would that be so bad?

_**U don't have 2 but u can if u want :) **__**- *Bella**_

_**B there n 20 **_

I reached over to my dresser to get a hairbrush to run through my mess of hair and hopped on one leg to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Oh the things we girls do just to look presentable for boys. After changing into some fresh clothes, I laid back down in the bed breathless from making the quick and needed preparations for Embry.

True to his word, he showed up twenty minutes later and rang the doorbell. I yelled 'Come in!' as loud as possible hoping he would hear me, because if I had to get up again I think I would sprain my other ankle. Apparently he heard me because a few seconds later he was standing in my bedroom doorway.

"Hey babe," he said smiling.

"Hey back."

"I brought you a burger and some fries." He pulled them out of the bag he was carrying. "I get an hour lunch break so I figured I'd give one of my favorite girls a visit since she's crippled for the next few days."

"_One_ of your favorite girls?" I asked smiling.

"Well my mom is the other one," he said laughing and shoving a fry into his mouth.

"I really appreciate this. I hope all this greasy food will make me feel better about having to stay inside all day."

"I'll take you outside so you can sit on the back porch if you want," he offered.

"Hmmm, maybe before you leave."

I spent the next few minutes picking lettuce, tomato, and onions off my burger so I could actually enjoy it. The whole time Embry was staring at me and his lip twitched as if he wanted to laugh.

While we were eating, I learned that Embry had a summer job at a lumber company just a couple of miles down the road. This explained why I hardly saw him during weekdays.

"So have you been thinking about our little rendezvous under the cliff yesterday as much as I have?" he asked out of nowhere.

I jerked my head in his direction and I was shocked by his sudden brashness. No, I hadn't been thinking about it that much, just every waking second so far.

"Umm, no, well…yeah, I….," I stuttered, now probably an impeccable shade of red.

"Good answer," he said as he hovered over my bed.

Embry placed one hand flat on the bed beside each of my hips and brought his face inches from mine again. I think he realized how crazy this made me considering he kept doing it. His eyes kept darting from my eyes to my lips at a rapid speed.

Finally, he grabbed me behind my neck and smashed his lips into mine. I instinctively lifted my hands to his face and ran my fingers over the stubble on his cheeks. He had the slight taste of salt on his lips today, probably from working this morning already, which proved to be an added turn-on. It made him seem even more of a man to me.

With that thought I ran my hands down his huge biceps. I just wanted to claw them and mark them as mine, but I didn't. I was a good girl….for the moment at least.

Embry broke free of my lips causing me to suck in a breath like it was my first. He trailed his way down my neck and placed kisses everywhere his lips touched. Then he ran his tongue along my jaw line.

He had now sat on the bed beside me and I felt his hand grip my left hip. He then found the hem of my shirt and let his hand slowly make its way to my bellybutton. Embry sat up and pulled his face completely away from me.

He looked down at where his hand now was. My shirt was pulled up far enough so he could see my belly ring. As he lowered his face to it, I'll admit, I got kind of nervous. I didn't know where this was leading, but it was still unknown territory for me.

Embry placed feather-light kisses all over my stomach and it made me shudder. I had never seen my stomach as a sexual thing, so the fact that I was enjoying this was a huge shock to me. All I could focus on was where his lips would go next.

Again, he pulled away. I groaned at the loss of his lips on me, but I didn't have to wait for long. Embry climbed on top of me settling himself between my legs, being very careful not to harm my injured ankle. He then gripped my hips and pushed his center against mine.

"Ugh," I moaned. A feeling had shot through me that I had never felt before. Not even when Embry had fingered me at the cliffs.

"Mmm, you're so sexy," he said.

All I could do was grab his face and pull it to mine. That was the only thing I was sure about at the moment. I knew I could kiss him right, but I wasn't confident about anything else.

I felt him run his hand up my shirt again. This time, it went farther. He had reached my bra and was now kneading my breast. It felt okay, but nothing to brag about. _Oh my gosh, was something wrong with me?_ _Why wasn't it completely turning me on?_ _Wasn't it supposed to?_

As I was delving further into my mini-meltdown, Embry pulled the fabric of my bra away from my breasts bringing me back to the present. His fingers ghosted over my now-erect nipples and I pushed myself against him begging for more.

He lifted my shirt up to completely reveal myself to him. I was utterly embarrassed because no one had seen me like this before. I took a chance and glanced at his face. He had positioned himself onto his knees looking down at me and his eyes were completely glued to my chest. It gave me a little more confidence at first but then it turned into self-consciousness the longer he stared.

Before I could make any move to cover myself Embry bent down and latched his mouth onto my nipple. I made a strangled whimper at the feeling he was bestowing upon me now. The sensation shot straight through me, starting at my nipple and ending where his hardness was pressed against my most sensitive area.

Surely nothing could get better than this. I was on cloud nine, feeling his hands roam about my torso and hearing the sounds he made as he sucked my buds into his mouth. But then I heard a sound that wasn't welcome.

The front door opened.

Embry quickly jumped off of me and in to the chair at my desk, adjusting his manhood. I fixed my top and threw a blanket over me just in case there happened to be a wet spot prominent on my sweats.

I decided to call out to Charlie first so our situation didn't seem so shady.

"Dad, is that you?" I said loudly enough to carry down the hall.

"Yeah, Bells it's me." I could tell he was walking towards my room.

I put a smile on my face so he would think I was happy to see him when he walked in.

As he rounded the corner, he looked warily at both Embry and I so I decided it was time to do damage control before he really humiliated me.

"Embry came by and brought me some food during his lunch hour. Wasn't that nice dad?"

Charlie's face seemed to soften a little and he smiled at Embry. "Yes it was. Thanks Embry. I'm sure Bells really appreciated it."

"No problem, Chief," Embry replied. "I figured I could be at least a little company to her, until I go back to work that is."

"Well I have to get me something quick for lunch too, so I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

After Charlie left my room, I released the breath of air that I was holding.

"That was close," I whispered to Embry.

He smiled. "Yeah, maybe we can continue this another time. I have to get back to work anyways."

"Okay, well, thanks for lunch. I'll see you around."

"No problem." He winked, got up from his chair, and walked out the door.

Charlie ended up leaving about an hour after Embry did and he didn't mention anything about Embry being there, which was a relief. With an empty house again, I decided to catch up on some reruns of Law & Order: SVU. I was only about ten minutes into the show when my phone buzzed.

_**So u & Embry huh? – Jake**_

I figured my best bet in this situation would be to act completely oblivious.

_**I don't know what ur talking about - *Bella**_

_**You've always been such a bad liar. Lol – Jake**_

_**He brought me lunch. What's the big deal? - *Bella**_

_**I was just asking. Is it a secret? – Jake**_

Oh, so now he was trying to trick me into telling him.

_**Is what a secret? There's nothing to tell. – *Bella**_

_**Sure there's not. – Jake**_

_**Ur not my dad, stop acting like it. - *Bella**_

_**Speaking of ur dad, did he catch u? Embry came out alive, so I assume he didn't. Hahaha. – Jake**_

_**Jerk, there was nothing to catch us doing - *Bella**_

_**U sure about that? – Jake**_

_**It's none of your business - *Bella**_

_**So there IS something goin on! – Jake**_

_**Bye Jake - *Bella**_

Jacob never texted me back, so I guess I effectively ended that very uncomfortable conversation. It was embarrassing enough that Jacob had actually noticed that Embry had came by when I was alone, but for him to notice my dad coming home unexpectedly and 'catching us' made me almost want to die of humiliation.

I didn't see Embry at all the next few days. I finally decided to try out some small exercises on my ankle to get it back to its original state once the swelling had went down and I could at least limp on it.

Angela and Leah came over on Wednesday and we made brownies and watched girlie movies for a few hours. I don't know how I survived back in Phoenix without girls like them as my company, but to be fair, they weren't your average ordinary girls and I loved it.

"So do you know when you're supposed to be flying back to Phoenix?" Leah asked after we finished one of our movies.

"Well, the last time dad talked to my mom she was wanting me to come back at the beginning of August so we would have time to buy new school clothes and all my supplies and stuff."

"Wow that's only a little over a month," Angela interjected.

"Yeah, I know."

"Why don't you just stay here?" Leah asked.

The room went quiet. Angela and Leah exchanged glances and then looked at me with wary faces. They had obviously discussed this when I wasn't around and now they were voicing where they stood. It almost brought tears to my eyes that we had become so close so fast and there was no one at home that even compared to them. So why was I going back?

"I don't know if that would be a good idea. All my stuff is back home. It would be so much trouble to move everything here. Plus I'd have to enroll in a new school and I'm no good at meeting new people," I explained. I wondered if I was trying to convince myself or them.

"You could have fooled me," Leah said while Angela nodded her head. "You did fine meeting all of us. Plus, you already have your core group of friends and that's the hardest part about going to a new school."

"I don't know guys. That's a big change."

"Well, we were just letting you know our opinion but ultimately it's your decision," said Angela. "We're behind you either way."

They didn't mention anything more about the subject of going back home. Unfortunately, the possibilities of moving here still swirled around in my head. I would weigh the pros with the cons. I would talk myself into it, and then talk myself out of it.

The weekend passed by slowly and it seemed that all my new friends were either working, on vacation (Angela), or missing (Jake). Okay not really missing, but I barely ever saw him. He hadn't invited me over to play Rock Band lately, his window was always closed, and I hadn't received any texts from him.

Most of my time was spent at the beach. Tanning wasn't really my thing, but when I had nothing else to do, it would suffice. I even ran into Alice and Rosalie there from time to time. I learned that they had jobs too, so the days they were off were the days I usually saw them.

On Monday, I was making my way back to Charlie's house after lying in the sand for the past hour. The sun had drained me of energy so I was ready for a nap. I saw the back of the house come into view and I picked up my pace. When I was almost to the back porch, I heard a loud 'clang' come from Jake's backyard.

I turned towards the source of the noise. It came from the small garage that I had seen Jake emerge out of every so often. He was probably working on a new project. Since I hadn't seen him in what seemed like forever, I decided just saying 'hi' wouldn't hurt.

I was afraid I would be interrupting something so I lightly tapped on the closed door. I could hear music inside, but it wasn't loud enough to override my knock.

I heard Jacob chuckle. "Someone's in here," he said in this weird kid-like voice. I had to laugh too because he sounded like someone who had been disturbed in the bathroom.

Pushing the door slowly open, I poked my head in first. What I saw completely took my breath away. The garage seemed a lot smaller from the outside yet Jacob had somehow managed to fit two vehicles in there along with enough space for his tools and a small table.

On the right side of the garage sat a small, weird looking car that seemed to have a Volkswagen emblem attached to it. It was red and dirty, that's all I saw. But on the left side was what really caught my attention. It was a reddish orange truck with bulbous fenders on the back and a tailgate that had "CHEVROLET" written across it. It looked like something you'd see in an old movie or at an antique car auction.

I noticed the hood was up and I saw Jake peer around it at me, his eyes wide. I have to admit that this old truck wasn't the only impressive thing in the garage. His long hair was tied back with a few loose strands falling around his face and his white tank top (gosh, is that all he owns?) was covered in grease and sweat.

"Bells! What are you doing in here?" he said exasperated. Weird.

"Umm, well I was just going to say hi. I'm sorry if I interrupted. I'll just go," I said quickly as I retreated back out the door.

"No, no, no, no. I was just startled to see you. I'm not use to people knocking, that's why I said what I did," he explained, looking embarrassed.

"Oh well, you know, I didn't want to find you in here doing something top secret," I said laughing.

His face was serious at first like that was exactly what he had been doing, but I think I was imagining things. All he was doing was working on this truck.

"So what brings you in here? You never come visit me in my garage," he asked.

"Like I said, just stopped by to say hi. And I'm glad I did. I love this truck. Are you fixing it up before school starts?"

"Uhhh, yeah, yeah before school starts." He was acting really weird.

"Sooooo, are both of these yours?" I said, pointing to the truck and the tiny car.

"Umm, yeah, they're both mine."

"You must be into classics, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, I love this car, it's my baby." He had walked over to the little red car now and was caressing it like it was a precious stone. "Do you know much about cars?"

"No, not at all," I admitted. "But I can tell both of these are old."

"My dad bought that truck in the 80's, but it's actually a 1953 model so I have to keep up the maintenance on it."

"So which one will you drive to school?"

"Oh, definitely the car."

"And what? The truck will be your date night vehicle?" I joked.

He rolled his eyes. "Pfft. I don't date, remember?"

"Maybe you should consider it. I mean, _all_ the girls at your school can't be _that_ bad."

"I suppose not. But I have to keep my academic standing up and dating would probably bring it down," he explained.

"That's easy. Just go out on the weekends and when you don't have homework or studying to do. You know, that's how most teenagers do it these days," I said laughing.

"You sound like you have experience."

"Nah, I watch a lot of TV."

He laughed and walked back over to the truck. He picked up a tool and resumed what he had been doing before I interrupted him. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. I debated leaving, but I didn't want to seem rude. I chose to rummage through his tool box instead. I guess that action could be considered rude too, but he didn't seem to mind.

After I got bored rummaging around with unidentifiable pieces of metal, I looked under the hood and watched Jacob in his element. His brows were scrunched together as if were in deep concentration.

"You want to help?" he unexpectedly asked.

"Me? No, I don't know anything about that stuff."

"I figured that much, so I'll teach you. You can impress all your Phoenix friends back home after summer vacation," he said, smiling and wiping his hands on a dirty rag.

My heart squeezed a little at hearing him mention my friends back home. I barely ever thought about them, and when I did, I didn't miss them like I would have thought. They probably wouldn't care about my car skills anyway.

"I'll do what I can, but it's your fault if I mess up something."

"On the truck or on you?" he said, a huge laugh escaping him.

"Both."

I lost track of time after Jake handed me my first tool. He guided my hand and placed it where it needed to go. My heart sped up and my stomach felt like it was topsy-turvy; kind of like how you feel when you're nervous. I hadn't realized that such a new experience as this would have caused such a reaction in me.

After a while, I had successfully removed the alternator from the truck and Jake was showing me the different parts of it along with explaining its function. He was so patient with everything he had me do. I thought for sure by now I would be bleeding a little, but so far I was unscathed.

"You're a natural at this, you know that?" he said after we finished replacing the old timing belt with a new one.

"Yeah right. I look like I belong don't I?" I gestured down to my clothes. I was still wearing my bikini top and a pair of short shorts (which were now ruined from the grease). I was positive this wasn't common attire for mechanics.

"Hey at least you don't smell nasty. When it's all guys in here and we're all hot and sweaty, it smells like eight cans of shark…"

"Okay, okay I get it," I said, interrupting him before he finished a sentence I knew all too well.

"You knew what I was gonna say?" he asked inquisitively.

"Duh. I've only see 'The Longest Yard' about three dozen times. Adam Sandler is one of my favorite actors."

"You've got to be kidding me." He looked completely stunned.

"No, he's hilarious. I think I've seen almost all his movies."

"Wow, a girl who knows comedic lines. You're gonna make some guy a lucky man one day Bells," he laughed and turned to his toolbox.

I rolled my eyes and went to clean my hands off in the small sink.

"Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?" he asked.

"Sure, are you going to make me a Sarah Sundae?" I asked. I turned around to see that beautiful Sarah smile spread across his face.

"I would but we don't have any ice cream in the house. I actually wanted to go to this ice cream shop in town that's only open during the summer. They have the best homemade ice cream."

"Sounds good."

Forty-five minutes later, Jake and I were in his little red car, which I now knew to be a Volkswagen Rabbit, headed towards town. He was beaming from ear to ear because like he said: this was his baby. I, on the other hand, was still wondering what kind of magic he used to get himself into this car in the first place. His head was almost touching the ceiling for crying out loud.

I was told to text everyone and tell them we were going to 'The Cool Breeze.' Cheesy, right? Maybe someone else would be able to make it there too.

We pulled up to a small building that had tons of picnic tables spread out in front of it. People were lined up at the windows at the front of the building waiting to be served. After we got in line, it seemed to move fast considering the sheer amount of people.

"I'll take a large cup of vanilla with hot fudge, caramel, peanuts, and whipped cream," Jacob told the lady at the window who wrote down the order and turned to me.

"The same please." The look on Jake's face was priceless. He knew how much I liked ice cream so it couldn't have been _that_ much of a shock.

After he insisted on paying for it and we were waiting on his change, I noticed a "Summer Help Wanted" sign in the window.

"Excuse me ma'am," I said to the cashier, "can I have an application?" I pointed to the sign.

"Sure, honey. You're actually the first one to ask for one, so I'll put a good word in for you. What's your name?"

"Bella Swan."

"Chief Swan's daughter? I'll make sure to mention that too," she said as she winked and handed me the application.

When we finally found a vacant table in the shade, Leah, Angela, Embry, and Quil showed up. Jacob told them all about me helping with the truck today and the guys seemed impressed while the girls seemed horrified.

I finished filling out the application but I was hesitant about turning it in.

"What's wrong Bella?" Embry asked.

"I'm kind of uncertain about applying for this job. I don't have a car yet, so I'll have to bum a ride off Charlie every time I have to work and he'll probably get tired of that."

"Oh please Bella," he said sarcastically. "Any one of us with a car will be willing to bring you by here if we can."

"Yeah," said Angela. "I'm thinking about applying too."

After Angela and I had applied for the job, we all headed back home. I was silent in the car on the way back home. Jake seemed to be mulling over something and I was just anxious about wanting to get a phone call for that job. I think we both knew the other was preoccupied so we welcomed the quiet.

"Can I ask you a question and you won't think I'm a complete idiot?" he asked me as we neared our houses.

"Sure."

"Well, it's more of an offer really." He paused. "You see, people around the rez usually bring me their cars to fix and after I move the Rabbit and the truck out of the garage I'm going to kind of make it my shop. So I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping."

"Helping what exactly?"

"Well, I saw how fast you learned today so I could teach you to do a lot of the simple stuff like changing the oil in the cars. That would give me time to work on more difficult jobs. Since I know you're pretty smart too, you could handle all the finances, not that there will be much since it's out of my back yard. But you could help me with pricing, finding parts, and establishing relationships with different suppliers. We'd split the profits and you'd have some income for the summer if this ice cream thing doesn't work out. Our last names alone would help us out a lot too." He looked at me expectantly.

"Our last names?"

"Yeah when people hear Black, they think of the tribe leader and they know our family can be trusted. Same with yours. When they hear Swan, they think of Charlie and they would definitely trust his daughter."

"One question: Why aren't you asking one of your guy friends that know about stuff like this?"

"Well most of my 'guy friends' have jobs and the ones that don't aren't really into fixing cars. If you don't want to, you don't have to. Like I said, it was just an offer."

Suddenly my cell phone rang. "Cooler than me" by Mike Posner echoed through the car. My phone showed a number I didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Bella Swan?" a male voice reciprocated.

"Yes."

"This is Tyler Crowley. My dad owns The Cool Breeze and he put me in charge of hiring some summer workers and Liz told me you were the first person to put in an application so I thought it was only fair I call and offer you a position first. So would you be interested?"

I couldn't believe my ears. "Of course. That would be great. What would be my hours?"

"We probably wouldn't have you work more than three days a week. I'd be able to start training you Thursday at noon if you'd like."

"Yeah, that's sounds perfect. I'll be there."

When Tyler and I had ended our conversation, I turned to Jake and he was smiling from ear to ear. I still hadn't forgot about his offer.

"Okay Jake, I got the job at the ice cream shop but I still want to give your offer a try, but no promises that I'll even like it. On one condition though: we don't split the profits 50-50. We get the money from the work we do because I know you'll be doing a lot more than me and it wouldn't be fair for us to get paid the same."

"Alright. We'll decide on the rates of pay for each job. So, we're partners?" He held out his hand for me to shake it.

"Yeah, we're partners," I said, putting my hand into his.

I couldn't help the permanent grin that was attached to my face the rest of the drive. I felt like an actual grown up. I had two jobs lined up for me. I'd be able to buy a car hopefully in no time, depending on how much business our "names" brought us. We'd just have to wait and see.

I pulled out my phone again.

_**I got the job Em! I'm so excited! - *Bella**_

_**That's awesome! Now I get free ice cream!**_

_**Don't get me fired! Lol. Where u at? - *Bella**_

_**Home. Rdy 4 sum more alone time with you- E. Call**_

**So I left Bella with a sly text from Embry. I think that was a good place to stop lol. I hope you liked the whole garage thing. I haven't read a story with Bella being into cars yet so like I said this was all new to me. I hope I can take this places. We'll see. I hope you like it and thanks again to those who review and those who put this story on alerts and faves. Let me know what you think...good or bad :) It really warms my heart to see a review in my inbox lol. Right now I'm not so sure what I want to happen next chapter, I need some creative ideas. See you next Friday!**


	10. Chapter 10 Friday the 13th

**I know, I know. FINALLY! right? I had a severe case of writer's block and just really being lazy, and after a few weeks off, my friend Jennifer aka _jenniper_ pushed me to get this chapter out. A big thanks to her and her critical eye as she read over this whole chapter and gave me ideas and told me how to make things sound better. I promised my hubby that I would thank him too for helping me brainstorm this past week, he's great for letting me bounce crazy ideas off of him and for helping me with the 'mechanic' terms. So needless to say, I really couldn't have did this on my own. I don't plan to take this long updating next time so please stick with me. It's gettin' good!**

**Chapter 10- Friday the 13th**

**Song: Hot n Cold by Katy Perry**

Even though Embry expressed his want to spend more time with me and I was more than happy to comply, the next three weeks were so completely hectic that I barely had time to sleep. Okay, I had time to sleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, it felt like morning came way too soon.

My first day at _The Cool Breeze_ was, in fact, a breeze. Tyler turned out to be a tall African-American guy who was really easy to get along with. He laughed at my bad jokes and even made some of his own. He was so great at teaching me all the basics I would need to know and all the employees were friendly and willing to help me anytime I asked. I ended up working with Liz mostly, taking orders and money which proved to be fun and easy. I even ended up meeting a lot of people from town that knew Charlie. What a surprise, right?

Tyler set my schedule for at least three days a week, but I told him I'd be willing to take on more if he needed me to. He seemed pleased that I offered and told me he would keep that in mind. I later regretted my offer when he called me in to work on the day I had planned to surprise Embry on _his_ job. I ended up just texting him instead, which turned out to be a very awkward conversation to say the least.

_**Is it possible to get sick of ice cream? – Bella**_

_**You're sick of it already? – Embry**_

_**No. Just wondering if it's possible. If it is, I may want to consider a new job.**_

_**So I'm assuming you're at work now?**_

_**Yep. I originally had the day off. I had considered surprising you.**_

_**That would have been nice. But it's okay. Maybe another day.**_

_**Possibly.**_

_**It would have been hard explaining why you showed up here anyway.**_

_**True. What would you have said?**_

_**No idea.**_

_**What ARE we anyways?**_

_**What do you mean?**_

_**Idk. The lines are starting to get a little blurred.**_

_**I guess we're friends who…do stuff.**_

_**Ahh, a title every girl wants.**_

_**I'm not labeling you, that's just what it seems at the moment.**_

_**Well I guess we can't really go further than that anyways.**_

_**Meaning?**_

_**I leave soon so taking it to bf/gf level would be pointless right?**_

_**I guess so.**_

Awkward? Yes. Did the conversation flow from there? No. That was pretty much the end of that topic because neither of us seemed to have anything else to say on it.

Days not spent at _The Cool Breeze_ were spent in Jacob's garage. Charlie never questioned my absences from the house. He was ecstatic that I had something to occupy my time with instead of soap operas and sitcoms. I knew this stemmed from the guilt he felt by leaving me alone so much, but I had never really minded.

With only a few more repairs to make, Jacob and I almost had that old truck up and running. I couldn't believe how giddy I felt at the prospect of seeing the finished product, knowing that my hands were the ones who made it run. Oh yeah, Jake helped too.

Jake and I made a few business relationships with local dealerships and parts supply stores to get us started and I had to admit that it was fun. He used his knowledge of cars and his quick wit to win over most vendors, but the difficult ones he left to me. On more than one occasion, I had to take the reigns and sweet talk our way into opening an account. Although, it didn't work every time. Turns out, not all businesses are willing to extend credit to two underage teenagers without a legitimate company. Go figure.

Obviously, the "training" I was being put through with the Rabbit and the Chevy was the hardest, but it was definitely the most rewarding. The Rabbit had fewer repairs to go through, so we finished it within two weeks time. The day we finally heard it crank was probably the best of my summer so far.

"_Give me a sec, I almost have the belt in place," I struggled to say to Jake as I was leaning over the hood._

"_Take your time. Do you want me to help?" he asked from his perch next to me. He was holding open the belt tensioner with a ratchet while I aligned the belt. _

"_No!" I said quickly. "I've got it."_

_I heard him chuckle next to my ear. He had been joking recently that he had created a monster by teaching me how to do all these mechanical things. Now that I halfway knew what I was doing, I wanted to do it myself. But this belt was going to break my fingers if I didn't hurry up and get it on there. _

_Finally, I forced it onto the pulleys and we both released the huge breaths we had been holding. My hands felt almost numb from the pressure that had been put on them and I think Jake's felt the same because he flexed his fingers after he had laid the ratchet down._

"_So, what's next, Captain?" I asked as I mock saluted him._

"_Start it."_

"_What?" I thought I had heard him wrong._

"_Start it," he said, pronouncing every syllable._

"_We're finished with it?"_

"_We'll never know until you start it." Jacob was trying his best to hold back a smile, but I could tell he was as happy as I was._

"_Why didn't you tell me the belt was the last thing to fix?"_

"_Because it would have made you nervous and then you would have crushed your fingers. Now scoot." He pushed me towards the front seat._

_I turned to him. "Jake, this is your car. _You _should be the one to start it."_

"_It's okay, Bells. Jump in."_

_The look in his eyes almost floored me. He sincerely wanted me to take this moment from him because this was the first car I had helped fix, but this was also his baby. The one he had probably been working on for months without me. I stepped out of the way._

"_Jake, get your butt in that car and I don't want to hear another word about it."_

"_But, Bells…"_

"_Nope. How 'bout this? I'll start the truck when we finish with it."_

_He looked me in the eyes and hesitated for a minute like he was looking back at me for my sincerity too. I guess he saw it there because a huge smile spread across his face as he jerked the driver's side door open. I ran to the passenger's side and jumped in next to him._

"_Ready?" He had his hand on the key in the ignition. The smile that was spread across his face and the gleam in his eye almost made me think I was looking at the young Jake I knew as a kid. His smile made me smile._

"_Ready!" I half-screamed back._

"_Shut your door."_

"_What? Why?"_

"_Just in case. Now shut it, please."_

_I reluctantly shut my door and I heard him shut his too. He had me scared by this point. Were car parts going to go flying around the garage if this didn't work the way it was suppose to?_

_After releasing a shaky breath, he turned the key._

_VROOM._

_I screamed at the top of my lungs. I almost came completely out of the seat as I reached over the console to hug Jake. He even let out a loud yell. I then realized this was why he had us close our doors. Charlie and Billy would be nothing short of shocked to hear me elated over a cranked car. We weren't ready to tell about our partnership yet, so my squeals were just between the two of us._

_After we quieted ourselves, Jake turned off the engine and I jumped out of the car still in silent bliss. Never in my life thus far had I felt the rush of adrenaline that was surging through me at that moment. It was as if the car's engine was somehow hot-wired to my nervous system as well. It started and so did I. My senses were on edge and I knew I couldn't wait until tomorrow to start working on the truck again. I had to get my hands on something before I exploded._

_I turned my eyes to meet Jake's and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Nothing's gonna stop us now. We had gotten this far and nothing was going to keep us from the picture he had painted of our own little shop. Yeah, it had seemed ridiculous and improbable at first, but as I picked up a wrench and saw how perfectly it fit in my hand, my vision got clearer and clearer._

Just thinking about that day gave me chills. That night we had actually gotten far on fixing the truck. It should be done within a few days I was guessing.

Finally, I ended up snagging a Friday off from _The Cool Breeze_ and while I had planned to lie around all day, Charlie had other plans for me in mind.

"Bells, here's my credit card. I want you to go up to Port Angeles and buy you some school clothes. Consider it an early birthday gift," he said that morning as he woke me up at the crack of dawn.

I looked up and saw a huge smile on his face. Only _he_ could be happy at 6 a.m.

"Leah has already agreed to take you," he continued. "I saw her last night at the diner and she said she's wanted to do some shopping anyway."

I wanted to be mad that he made plans for _me_ behind _my_ back, but what girl can say no to a credit card and a dad that means well? So after falling back asleep for two hours, I got ready for the day. It didn't take me long, so even after I had finished, I still had an hour before Leah got there.

I made my way outside toward Jake's makeshift garage and slid the door open. After flicking on the light, I grabbed a screwdriver and picked up where I had left off the prior day. The truck was our main concern now since the Rabbit was finished, which Jake now took everywhere he could.

Before I knew it, I heard gravel crunch in the driveway and I knew I was about to be caught. After quickly washing my hands, I ran to meet Leah on the front porch of Charlie's house. I rounded the corner and she gave me a questioning look.

"Where are you coming from?" she asked.

"Just around back." I tried to sound nonchalant, but I didn't know how well it worked.

Leah seemed convinced or uninterested one, but a smile spread on her face either way. "Angela's coming along too. This is going to be fun."

As she said this, I peered over her shoulder and saw Angela walking the short distance from her house to mine. A whole twenty feet. I was actually surprised Angela had today off too, seeing as our schedules rarely merged. She had snagged a job at _The Cool Breeze_ too.

Once I had secured dad's credit card in my purse, we hit the road. The ride usually seems long to me, but with two crazy girls as my companions keeping me totally entertained, we got there in no time.

We spent most of our time in clothing stores occupying the dressing rooms. Probably half of the store clerks thought we were there to just mess around and try on clothes until we whipped out our assorted forms of payment.

Leah and Angela proved to be great shopping buddies to me. They were honest about what they liked and didn't like, plus they found stuff that looked great on me that I wouldn't have looked at twice on my own. It was like having my own professional shoppers. I could get use to this.

We found lunch in the mall at a small Italian restaurant. Leah was texting on her cell phone like a mad woman before I finally had to ask what she was up to.

"I'm just texting some of the guys," she responded.

"Oh really? What are they up to?" Again, I tried acting nonchalant. What I really wanted to know was what Embry was up to. I hadn't spoken to him in a few days, but even then it was only a few texts here and there.

"I invited them to meet us at the theater later. It's been a while since we've all hung out together and we should definitely do something before school starts back," Leah explained.

My head shot up. "We're going to the movies? What are we seeing?"

"I was thinking since today is Friday the 13th, we should go to that old cinema on Main Street. They're showing horror films in every theater tonight and it only costs five bucks to watch as many as you want."

It sounded like our night was set and I was super excited. The thought of being in a dark theater with Embry was extremely enticing. If tonight was all-you-could-watch, we would definitely be out late, so all I had to do was make a routine call to Charlie.

_Three hours later_

The whole ride across town, Angela had insisted we listen to some oldies to get into the "scary movie spirit." What one had to do with the other, I had no idea. Maybe some cheesy old movie she had once seen fused these two scenarios together. Nevertheless, we cruised down Main Street with the windows down and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" blaring on the radio.

The cinema was one of those brick buildings you see in old Hollywood movies with the huge marquee out front displaying all the movies being played that night. I spotted _I Know What You Did Last Summer, Halloween, Freddie, Chucky_, and plenty more on the schedule to be shown tonight.

We paid our five dollars at the front window and walked inside to hopefully find the boys. We had to look no further when we suddenly heard a wolf-whistle ring out from behind us, kind of like off those old cartoons.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the whistler said.

I turned and saw a sharply-dressed Quil standing against the windows beside the front entrance we just came in. We must have walked right by him. I couldn't see how. He was looking quite dashing tonight with his button down shirt and his khaki pants.

"Do any of you ladies need a gentleman escort tonight because my arm could use a companion?" Quil continued as he put on his best British accent and held out his arm for one of us to grab. Angela and Leah made no move towards him, so I looped my arm through his.

"Are you here alone stranger?" I asked him as the four of us walked further into the building.

"Absolutely not. I was the lookout. The others are in the arcade, of course."

The arcade here was outrageous. The old venue that you saw outside seemed to fit some of the games here but whoever stocked this room was definitely a collector. Games ranged from _Pac-Man_ to _Deal or No Deal_. Shooting games from different decades also littered the floor with boys stuck to them like glue, the selection ranging from rifles to machine guns.

"Who else is here with you?" I asked as I scanned the room for a familiar face.

"Sam, Emily, Jake, and Embry."

My heart jumped at his reply, although I still didn't see anyone he mentioned. He pulled me over to a racing game and as I peeked around the seat, I spotted Emily at the wheel. She was changing gears and skidding around turns like it was nobody's business. The look on her face was complete concentration and I commended her for her sheer guts to compete with the guy next to her who looked like he had street-raced for real.

"Decided to finally show up?" a deep voice said in my ear. Whoever's hot breath was on my neck gave me chills. I turned and was met with two almost black orbs staring straight at me.

"Hey, I'm on time!" I chided him as I lightly punched his shoulder.

"On time for being late."

"Don't try that with me. You know you guys got here early just so you could come and play the games."

"Okay, you caught me. I had to make sure no one even comes close to beating my score on DDR."

"DDR? I didn't peg you for the dancing type."

"I didn't peg you for a lot of things you turned out to be," he said, flashing me that killer grin.

I rolled my eyes and unintentionally landed them on another person I had wanted to talk to tonight.

"I'll see you in a bit Jake. I'm gonna go say hi to Embry."

His smile faltered for the slightest of seconds that I might have imagined it, but then he put all my fears to rest by responding with a "Sure, sure" and turning to the rest of the group.

When I turned back towards Embry, he had ducked into a game that had curtains draped down each side kind of like a photo booth. The name of the game was _Big Wheeler_ so I guess it was another driving game.

As I got closer to the game, I could hear Embry's low voice murmuring to himself and to the game. I couldn't help but smile at his childish antics. They were extremely cute. I walked around to the "passenger's side" since this thing was big enough to fit two people and reached out to pulled back the curtain slowly so I wouldn't startle him.

"Hey stranger, any room for me in there?" I asked.

He looked over with a blank look on his face. "Sure."

That answer actually caused me to stop short because I was so stunned by the sense of cold that he was putting off. I kind of had the feeling he wouldn't care if I just walked off the face of the planet at that moment. He must've had a bad day.

"Are you winning?" I asked as I made myself comfortable.

"You could say that." Wow. Short answers.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in forever," I tried again.

"Does it?"

Okay, I was just going to have to come out and say it. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you acting like you'd rather I not be here?"

"I'm not. I'm just concentrating on the game." Yeah, always a good answer.

I looked towards the screen. He was actually doing pretty well. I guess it just bummed me out that if we would have been in this situation a month ago, we would be making out like there was no tomorrow. But right now all I felt was the thick cloud of discomfort building around us, threatening to suffocate me and my stupid 'what are we?' text messages.

After about three more games, I decided it was time to call it quits and find the other people I came with. At least they wouldn't appear to be giving me the cold shoulder.

"I'll see you in the theater?" I asked him.

"What? Oh, yeah sure."

He was being such a terd. That's right, I said it. A terd. I didn't understand how guys did it. One minute they can't get enough of you and the next they're barely aware that you're in the same room. Once puberty hits them, you better call it quits. We'll never be able to decipher the framework of the male brain.

After playing a few rounds of _Ms. Pac-Man _and watching a few of our friends battle it out on different games, we were all ready to head into the theater. But what we didn't expect was the fuss we would all have when it came to actually picking out the movies we were going to see.

Eventually, we all decided on Theater 4 which was playing the first three _Saw_ movies back to back. I was completely excited. _Saw_ was the only scary flick franchise I followed. I wouldn't classify it as horror, but it was definitely suitable for Friday the 13th entertainment.

Jake, Leah, Quil, and I stood in line at the concession stand waiting to order our junk food when I totally spaced out. I was looking at a movie poster that displayed today's date, August 13th. I couldn't believe we were already two weeks into August. I'd be leaving in a couple of weeks and it felt like I hadn't been here long enough.

I looked at my friends standing around me, laughing and telling jokes, and I felt my heart swell a thousand times. Sort of like the Grinch at the end of his movie. It physically hurt to think that I'd have to leave them soon and I felt traitorous tears burn my eyes. I quickly looked to the floor so my hair covered my face.

"You okay, Bells?"

I looked up and Jacob had a pained expression on his face. I sucked it up and pushed my dilemma to the back of my mind. "Yeah, fine. Why?" With my cheery voice, I almost fooled myself.

His eyes flicked behind me. "No reason."

I turned to look towards where his eyes had landed just seconds ago. What I saw definitely made me a little mad. There was Embry, standing next to a leggy blond who was holding his arm and totally feeling his bicep.

_Bitch. And she was one, too._

It was bad enough that I had to endure the fact that Embry suddenly had a change of heart, but for Jake to have figured out the situation and feel bad for me was even worse. I could tell he thought my sudden interest in the floor was due to Embry's new arm candy, so I had to convince him that it didn't bother me one bit. My plan: to enjoy the rest of my night. Who knew how many more chances I'd have to hang out with these people again? I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it for me.

I turned my attention back towards the snack bar and ordered my usual popcorn, Milk Duds, and a giant Coke which earned me a look from the rest of those in line with me.

"What? A girl's not allowed to have junk food?" They all shrugged and ordered their respective goodies.

All nine of us (the ninth being the leggy blond I now knew to be Chelsea) met outside of Theater 4 seeing as we all needed to either get food or go to the bathroom, so this made it easier. Fortunately, this theater was one of the biggest in the building so it wasn't as crowded as I had predicted. I led the way to the middle of the theater to get to my favorite spot. I stopped halfway down the row I chose and took the best seat in the house. Jake, Quil, Leah, and Angela followed me. Embry, Chelsea, Sam, and Emily sat on the row in front of us. I guess they liked to be directly in the middle too.

I sat my purse and my Milk Duds on the empty seat next to me so I could get a head start on my popcorn. Jake, who had taken the seat on my other side, had added M & M's into his popcorn for that "chocolatey-salty" taste, as he called it. I just preferred mine with a lot of butter.

For the next ten minutes, we all competed against each other as we answered movie trivia questions that popped up on the screen randomly. Sam was in the lead.

_Does he win every game he competes in? Geez._

I checked my phone and saw that it was two minutes until the movie was about to start. I could hear and feel the excited hum that accompanied the crowd in theaters when everyone was waiting with bated breath for the lights to dim.

I looked at my phone again. One minute to go. I went to stick my phone back into my purse and in my excited and popcorn-induced haze, I dropped it. Those seconds as you watch your phone nosedive to the ground where you know it could possibly break into a million pieces are the worst. I winced as I heard it hit but luckily it stayed in one piece.

I reached down to pick it up and a pair of flip-flops, Rainbows to be exact, appeared next to my face. I'm was hoping they belong to a guy because if not, they have some seriously hairy legs. I leaned back up after retrieving my phone and my eyes fell on a familiar face.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

**Dum dum dum...so who do you think it is? Hehe I know who it is! I promise to try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can so you guys don't have to hang so long. Send me a review telling me who you predict this will be, your favorite parts of the Saw movies, and what YOU want to see next chapter. I appreciate everyone who is faithful in reviewing and I love any forms of encouragement, they really help me out. See you next time!**


	11. Chapter 11 Conversations & Realizations

**Hey guys! I'm excited I've gotten this one out cuz I know everybody's freaking over who said the last line in the last chapter. I hope I don't disappoint too many people lol...First off, I wanna thank Jennifer (_jenniper_) who is my "unofficial" beta. She helps me thru each and every one of my paragraphs. Without her, I don't know what you guys would get. Also, I wanna think _finna_ for bringing to my attention that this story didn't list two MAIN characters. So I chose the two that I write about the most and went with it...hopefully, it'll bring in more readers :) yay! I appreciate those who have stuck with me thus far and I plan on going even further. There's still sooooooo much ground to cover. But we'll talk about that later. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 11-Conversations & Realizations**

"_Excuse me, is this seat taken?"_

His eyes were locked on mine and he had a huge smile spread across his face.

"Umm, n-no, sorry," I stuttered out as I hastily moved my purse and my candy out of the chair next to me.

He kept smiling as he settled himself into the vacant place beside me.

"Sorry, but I'm sort of picky when it comes to my theater seat," he explained.

"No problem. I'm the same way."

I looked away simply because it was weird for me to have a conversation with someone I didn't know. Plus, his piercing green eyes had made me blush a little. I knew that I had seen him somewhere before, but exactly where escaped me.

"How's that ankle?" he suddenly asked.

My head snapped back around to him and I took a better look at his face. I noticed with the small amount of light that was given that his hair was a weird shade of copper. Oh, now I remembered him.

"Edwin?"

He chuckled. "Close enough. It's Edward, actually."

I felt myself blush again. "Sorry."

"It's okay. We've only met once. Bella, right?"

I nodded. "Are you here alone?"

"No. I'm pretty much with the same people you saw me with last time. They all like to sit up front though. I'm the loner of the group I guess you would say."

He pointed down about eight or nine rows. Sure enough, I saw two blondes and two brunettes seated where he motioned towards. My heart skipped a beat when Emmett turned to the side and I caught sight of one of his dimples. He was just too cute for his own good.

I noticed the four of them were seated as follows: Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie from left to right. I had just assumed they were coupled off some way or another, but I guess I was wrong, unless they were two gay couples, which I doubt. I'd have to ask about that later.

I came back to my senses as the lights dimmed, signaling it was time for the movie to start. I tapped Jacob's knee excitedly and he winked at me, clearly sharing my enthusiasm.

"Jacob, you remember Edward right? From the beach?"

"Oh yeah. How's it goin' man?" Jacob asked.

"Pretty good," Edward replied as they reached across my seat to shake hands.

The previews before the feature presentation were awesome. I spotted so many movies I'd like to see ranging from horror to comedy. Jacob and I actually made plans to see a few of the ones that would be coming out within the next few weeks. I avoided making plans for any movies coming out later than that, seeing as I'd probably be back in Phoenix by then.

I pushed that concern to the back of my mind and focused my attention on the opening scene of the movie. The sounds of popcorn crunching reverberated around me and I felt slightly uncomfortable when I heard the unmistakable sounds of teenagers making out a couple of rows back. Apparently, Jake heard them too.

He turned around unabashedly and looked for the source of the noise. I watched as his dark eyes scanned the people behind us. When they landed on what I assumed was the source of the noise, his eyebrows scrunched together like he was disgusted. It was actually quite funny the way he reacted to this. Apparently, you didn't mess with Jake and his movie time.

As he turned back around in his seat, he huffed and said, "Looks like we need to throw some cold water on some people." He paused and a wicked gleam came to his eye. "Better yet, let's throw some popcorn at them." He started laughing and grabbed a handful.

"Do you know those people?" I asked.

"Nope," he said as he launched the popcorn and I turned just in time to see it hit them straight in the face.

They must have gotten the hint because after our laughter had died down, I didn't hear any more spit-swapping. Thank goodness.

The movie was just as gory and bloody as I remembered it. I cringed and covered my face in the girly way I always do. I could hear poor Angela's tiny squeals all the way down the row. I glanced at Leah and saw that she and Quil seemed unfazed by the abundance of guts displayed on the screen. They would definitely make a cute couple if they weren't so much like brother and sister.

Unfortunately, I barely got through half the movie before I embarrassed myself. At the part where the crazy pig-masked person jumps out, I reflexively grabbed Edward's forearm in my slight panic.

Pulling away quickly, I mumbled my third "sorry" to him in less than an hour. Being the cool and collective guy that he was, all he did was smile and lean towards me.

"I'm assuming you've never seen this before," he enquired.

"Actually, billions of times. Shocking, I know," I replied.

"I guess creepy pig people are hard to get used to."

I had to smile. "Definitely."

For the remainder of the movie, I made a conscience effort to stay quiet and keep my hands to myself. Although, I couldn't pass up making fun of the more cheesy parts with Jake. His impressions were uncanny, yet my favorite part was when he reached over the seat in front of him when the theater was dead silent and grabbed Chelsea's shoulder, causing her to spring up from her seat and spill Embry's drink all in his lap.

As the movie showed the closing scene, where Jigsaw says "Game Over" in that creepy voice and Adam's screams rang through the demented bathroom, everyone in the theater applauded. I wasn't sure why we did; it just seemed like the right thing to do. The screen then displayed a message telling us that we had a ten minute intermission until the next movie started.

Most people stood up to stretch their legs and some gathered their things to leave. Apparently, one sick movie a night was all some people could take. I, for one, needed a refill on my Coke and popcorn so I made my way to the refreshment area after Jake assured me he would protect my seat.

After fighting my way through the crowd, I managed to successfully reach the snack bar without a scratch. By the time I got there, I kicked myself for not making Jake come to fight the throngs of people. He could have pushed through them in no time. Me, I was the one being pushed. Every time I got even close to the front of the line, some idiot person would "subtly" jump in front of me. After a few times of this, I just decided to just give up.

I hung my head and turned around to make my way back to the theater. I was pretty sure that popcorn and soda wasn't worth all this hassle. As I tried to find holes in the line to break through, a booming voice came towards me.

"OH NO NO NO."

I looked up and saw a guy with a sideways hat, a white muscle shirt, and a hard look on his face coming straight towards me. At first I didn't recognize him because any other time I've seen him, he's usually smiling from ear to ear. Yet now, he looked mad. I froze in my tracks and waited for him to reach me as he pushed his way through the line.

When he got to me, he took my arm and spun me around to face the front of the line. I was speechless by this point, so I didn't object when he latched his huge hand around my wrist and pulled me behind him.

"Excuse me!" he said as he pushed himself through the line of idiots that had been passing me. "Excuse me!"

Now I was embarrassed. I began to attempt to pull away from him. "No Emmett, it's fine. I was just heading back to the theater."

"Oh no, you're not," he replied without even looking at me. "You're gonna get what you came out here for."

He used his big body to make a path for us and in no time we reached the counter. He let go of my wrist and leaned on the counter like he was right at home and that big scene he made hadn't bothered him at all.

"Hmm, let me see. I'll take some nachos and cheese with the jalapeños, some Junior Mints, a large Mountain Dew, a pack of Starburst, and…," he turned his now dimpled face to me, "whatever this beautiful lady wants."

"No, no. It's okay. I can pay for my own."

His eyes glanced at my hands which held my empty bag of popcorn and my empty drink cup. He snatched them both from me and handed them to the man behind the counter. "Looks like a refill on that popcorn and a refill on whatever drink she had." His eyes locked with mine again and I could see a hint of playfulness behind them.

"Coke," I said quietly.

"Coke it is," he repeated to the guy.

After I volunteered to pay for my stuff and got shut down with his refusals, I simply gave in and thanked him for his generosity.

"It was no problem Miss Bella," he said in a sultry tone. "I saw a damsel in distress and I decided to be her knight in shining armor."

I couldn't help but smile at his obvious attempt at flirting. Then I realized he had watched the whole scene transpire before when all those people just raked passed me and I had done nothing about it. I probably seemed like a helpless little girl to him now. I quickly reverted to my old self and blushed at my lack of anything to say back to him.

Luckily, he picked up on my unease. "So, it's weird how we keep running into each other like this, huh? You wouldn't happen to be a stalker now, would you?"

His smile helped ease my hesitancy. "I think it's the other way around."

"You think I'm stalking _you_?" He held his hand over his heart like I had hurt his feelings.

"You believe all these meetings happened by chance?"

"Hmm," he made a show of thinking really hard about it. "I think it's fate telling us that you should give me your number."

"Fate is a fickle friend, I must say," I responded, editing a line from a movie and wondering if he would pick up on it.

His booming laugh echoed through the hallway. "I believe that's fame, my dear. So how 'bout that number?"

We stopped in front of our theater entrance and we both leaned against the wall facing each other. I quickly contemplated the pros and cons of this number-giving question. He was cute and he _did_ understand my movie reference, but I barely knew him.

"What exactly would giving you my number accomplish?" I asked with a smile.

"I was thinking maybe I could take you out sometime," his smile faltered for a second and he quickly added, "unless you're seeing someone already."

"No, I'm not seeing anybody," I reassured him.

"Well, no harm in two people going out if they so choose, right?" he asked.

"I guess not."

Emmett pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me so I could program my number in it. I then handed him mine so he could do the same. I rarely answered numbers I didn't recognize so it would be nice to know that it was him who was calling.

"So what movie are you watching next?" he asked as he handed me my phone back.

"The same one as you probably."

"How do you know which one I'm seeing?" he asked, his eyeing me suspiciously.

"I saw you from my seat," I replied simply.

"Oh really?" His smile was now permanently attached. "Sounds kind of stalker-ish to me."

"You wish," I laughed.

We walked into the theater just as the lights were dimming.

"You can sit down here with us if you want." He motioned to the others in his party.

I waved when they noticed me. "No, I actually have a seat up there beside Edward. I'm sure you know him."

Emmett's expression was a mixture of shock and interest. "_That's_ how you knew I was here. Well, tell Eddie he's a lucky guy tonight."

I made my way back to my seat with a smile on my face. It's not everyday I get so many compliments. Jake had a heated look on his face when I scooted past him. I didn't have to guess what that was about. I hadn't forgotten about our fight over Emmett the first time I had met him at the diner.

As I sat down, he gave me the evil eye. "What was that about?"

"What?" _Yes, I'm a coward. I played dumb._

"You know what. Is McCarty trying to get with _you _now?"

"He was just being nice." I shrugged my shoulders as if it were nothing.

"Yeah, I bet he was," he scoffed.

"Do we have to go through this again? I don't answer to you Jake." We were fussing in loud whispers by this point.

"I didn't say that you did."

"Then stop with the attitude."

Then he did the most mature thing in the world. He threw an M&M at me. I couldn't help but laugh and throw it back at his stupid, overprotective self.

The second movie was even better than the first. I loved the paranoia that ran through the characters and all the hidden secrets and agendas that were revealed throughout. I completely forgot about Jake's little tantrum when he started imitating the characters again.

"I want to play a game," he said in my ear, doing a perfect impression of Jigsaw.

"I'm sure you do," I responded, pushing him away when he tried to bite my ear.

I smiled at Edward when he would look at me, which was quite often. I decided to try to strike up a conversation with him since he seemed unable to initiate it.

"Have you seen this one before?" I asked.

He seemed surprised that I could speak. "Umm, yeah I have. Just once."

Unfortunately, he didn't give me much to go on there so silence ensued.

"You know, I used to have a crush on that girl from 7th Heaven," he tried again.

"Really? I've always thought she was cute too, but everyone always seems to prefer Jessica Biel."

"Yeah, usually, but her beauty is too over the top for me. I think Beverley Mitchell has a more innocent and natural look."

"I completely agree."

He leaned closer to me as if he didn't want to be heard. "Is he your boyfriend?" He motioned towards Jake.

I laughed. "No way. Why would you think that?"

He seemed to relax more after my denial of a romantic relationship with Jake. "Well, for the obvious reason. The fact that you're sitting together in a dark movie theater is usually a dead giveaway."

"We're sitting together too." I motioned between Edward and myself.

"Ahh, touché. But I also heard him complaining about you speaking with Emmett." A small smile graced his lips.

"He's my overprotective big brother, so to speak," I whispered, making sure Jake could in no way hear me.

"Gotcha," he said, realization dawning on him.

"So how do you know Emmett? School?" I asked.

"Yeah to begin with, but now we work together."

"Where?"

"At his dad's store. McCarty Grocery. I'm surprised you didn't know that. Your dad is like a regular customer."

"Oh yeah, I remember hearing that his dad owned a store. Does Alice, Rosalie, and Jackson…?" I couldn't remember the tall blonde's name.

"Jasper."

"Yeah, Jasper. Do he and the girls work there too?"

"Yep. We're all like one big, happy family," he said sarcastically.

I actually enjoyed talking with Edward. In between scenes, he would whisper questions to me inquiring about my family and my time in Forks so far. I liked that he was interested in more than just what was on the outside like Embry obviously was. Edward showed a uniqueness that was rare and it left me yearning for more interaction with him.

Like a school girl, every time he would say something even slightly funny, I would giggle frantically. To be honest, funny wasn't his thing, but the fact that he was trying was worth my fake laughs.

"Oh, Emmett wanted me to give you a message. He said to inform you that you're a lucky guy tonight," I whispered to Edward.

"Really? Why is that?"

"I think it's because he invited me to sit with him, but I told him I already had a seat next to you."

"Well, Emmett was right for once," he said, his voice lowering and his eyes locking with mine. His voice made me want to sit and listen to him talk for hours. His eyes seemed to draw me into their depths. Wow, he could really dazzle me without even trying.

I caught my breath and turned my attention back to the movie. During the second intermission, I firmly decided to stay in my seat and avoid the unnecessary aggravation of standing in the snack line. Jacob offered to get me more soda, but I thought I'd had enough for the night. I was completely wired from all the caffeine so getting through the last movie would be no problem.

As we waited our allotted ten minutes for the next movie, Jake, Edward, and I did some people-watching. Since Edward and Jacob went to different schools, there were a wide variety of people our age that I got an inside scoop on. Almost every time a teenager walked up the steps, I would hear a comment from one or the other.

"She stuffed her bra in middle school," Jacob had said.

"He used to have a Backstreet Boys poster in his locker," Edward responded.

"They got caught in the janitor's closet."

"He usually smells like cabbage."

"She tried to feel up Quil last year in Geometry class."

The list went on and on with those two. I was almost rolling on the floor laughing, until Emmett was the next one to walk in. Both of them went silent and I saw Jake cut his eyes at Edward. Jacob may have negative feelings towards Emmett, but he was more civil than to blatantly bash someone's friend right in front of their face.

Edward seemed to pick up on his agitation because he didn't say a word either. I watched Emmett go towards his seat, but then stop. He squinted as he looked up towards our seats. His eyes searched the rows and then they landed on Edward and me. A smile spread across his face and I prayed that he wouldn't come up here and make things worse.

Thankfully, all he did was raise his bag of popcorn in a 'hello' gesture, but then he winked at me. I didn't miss the fact that both Jacob _and_ Edward rolled their eyes and looked away. The tension was so thick I could almost suffocate from it.

Since Jacob barely spoke to me all during the third movie, I took that time to ask Edward a little about himself. I learned his last name was Masen, he was born in Chicago, he'd lived in Forks since he was five, and he played baseball. He was my age and about to start his junior year at Forks High. Not too shabby, if you ask me. He seemed to come from humble beginning like I had. Everything wasn't handed to him and he'd had a job since he was sixteen so he could save up for his own car.

After the final scene of the movie ended, we all made our way outside. Seeing as it was about 1 a.m., the traffic had mostly disappeared and all that was left were the city lights and the chatters of the people around us.

Edward walked awkwardly by my side as he looked around for the people he came with. We spotted them by the curb next to a silver Jeep. They saw us too and they all gave us looks of confusion except for Emmett.

"Umm, well it was nice talking to you." _Wow, I am so bad at this. What else was I supposed to say? _"Maybe I'll see you around."

"Let's hope so," he responded with his hands in his pockets and a crooked smile on his face.

I turned to leave and headed towards where I saw Leah and Angela standing.

"Bella!" Edward called from behind me.

I stopped and looked back around at him. He looked nervous. Was he going to ask for my number too? I found myself hoping he would.

"We're supposed to be going back to the beach tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps if you're not busy around lunch time we'll see you there. Tell your friends we're looking forward to a rematch." He turned and walked in the direction of his ride and I laughed when I saw Alice bouncing excitedly trying to get my attention as she waved goodbye.

I let my La Push gang know what Edward had mentioned about a rematch and they seemed pumped for tomorrow's game. I wasn't too excited, considering what happened last time I attempted to join in.

"Bella, you may want to sit out. We don't want you to break _both_ of your ankles this time," Quil joked.

"I'm glad my clumsiness amuses you, Quil," I responded.

He laughed and pulled me into a hug, reassuring me that he only picks on me because he loves me so much. And I realized I loved him too. I loved all these people surrounding me. Over the past month and a half, I had grown to love them without realizing it. They were my friends. They were my family. How could I leave my family? Maybe I didn't want to.

I was pulled from my thoughts as we dispersed in different directions towards our respective cars. I followed Leah to hers, but was stopped mid-stride by Jake.

He held up his keys to the Rabbit, which had a rabbit's foot attached to the key ring. Go figure. "You're riding with me, Bells."

"What for? Leah has to take Angela home anyway."

"I know, but I have a surprise." His smile was enough to caution me.

"I don't like surprises. Especially not ones that make you smile like that."

"Like what?"

"All creepy and 'Joker'-like."

He threw his head back and laughed. "You're overreacting. Let's go." He grabbed my arm and hauled me to his ugly, little gem. I threw a look over my shoulder at Leah, clearly saying "help me," but she just shook her head and laughed.

Jake called Charlie telling him we'd be home soon, which I found weird considering I had called him earlier telling him we'd be late. I figured Jake was just being courteous so I thought nothing else of it.

I fell asleep during the ride home and woke up as we were pulling into my driveway. I could see through the windows that the front room lights were on, which was odd.

"I wonder why Charlie is still up. I hope I'm not in trouble."

"Nah, I doubt it." Jake unbuckled and got out of the car and I followed.

"You don't have to come in with me. I can handle him," I explained.

"I was just walking you to the door, Bells."

"This isn't a date Jake." I let out a small laugh.

"Obviously, or else you wouldn't have spent almost all night talking to another guy." He let out a dry laugh and I could tell there was no humor behind it. I hadn't meant to hurt his feeling if I had.

"Jake, I…"

He opened my front door before I could say anything more. "Hey, Charlie. Hey, Dad."

_Dad? Was Billy here?_

Sitting in the living room were a tired looking Charlie and Billy. I really wasn't ready to be lectured if this was what this turned out to be. The smiles on their faces contradicted that notion though.

"So did you guys have fun?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, the movies were great," I answered, still nervous as to why they were both here.

"Well, let's get this show on the road," Jake said.

I look at him confused as he wheeled his dad out the door and Charlie followed. They motioned for me to come as well. We walked through the space in between our houses and Jake headed straight towards the garage. That was when I started to freak out.

"Jake!" I hissed. "Where are we going?"

"Like you don't know," he threw over his shoulder.

I was speechless. Had he decided that we should tell our parents about our so-called agreement? What was his problem? That could definitely wait until later.

He threw the garage door open and lead us all inside. I stood in the shadows as Jake rambled on about what we had been doing these past couple of weeks. He explained why we hadn't told anyone that we wanted to go into business together, seeing as we wanted to make sure we could do it before anyone knew. He told them about my help fixing his Rabbit and the work I had been putting into the truck.

Billy and Charlie both listened intently as Jake spoke. My dad occasionally glanced at me with a look I didn't recognize. Pride, maybe? Was he proud that I had done this?

"Well, that was unexpected. Here I thought we were giving Bells her birthday present, but you give your dad and me a present instead," Charlie laughed.

"What do you mean birthday present?" I asked. "My birthday isn't for another month."

"A month from today exactly," Charlie paused. "Well, technically yesterday. You'll probably be back in Phoenix on your birthday so we decided to give you your birthday present now so you'll have time to enjoy it."

"I still don't know what this has to do with coming to the garage at ungodly hours to tell you news that could've waited until we were all well-rested," I complained.

"We were too excited to wait," Billy said and they all agreed.

"Okay, so what is it?" I looked around at their smiling faces.

Jake walked over to me and took my hand. He opened my palm and laid something cold and hard onto it. I looked down. It was a key. I looked back up at him, unsure of what this meant.

"It's time for you to see if _your_ truck is ready to be driven," he said.

My brain was on overload. Did he mean the actual truck that I had been working on that previous morning? The truck I was standing right beside at this moment? I didn't think my fortune could be that good.

"Wh-what? What truck? _This _truck?" I said, pointing at the monster beside me.

"We've put a lot of blood and sweat into it Bells. It's time to see if it was worth it."

"I thought there were more things to do to it," I argued.

"Just one - and I did it while you were doing your girly shopping thing this morning."

I had tears in my eyes. I had been saving up for a car I wasn't even going to have to buy. Jake, Billy, and my dad had probably known all along that this truck would be given to me. Of course, our dads had thought it would be Jake fixing it, not me. Now I understood why Jake had allowed me to do most of the repairs on my own while he instructed me. I could now see the fruit of my own hands.

I just hoped it worked.

I climbed into the cab and motioned for Jake to join me on the bench seat. He explained how the clutch worked and my hands and legs shook as I began to crank the truck. When the key turned and nothing happened my heart sank. I could see all the hope in everyone's eyes fade.

Jake's face showed his confusion as he looked around at all the display panels. "Oh wait babe, you didn't have the clutch pressed down like I told you," he said.

Pressing down the clutch and holding on to my one last thread of hope, I turned the key again. VROOOOOOM.

Even though it was louder than I would have thought possible, I couldn't have been happier even if my dad had bought me a brand new Volvo. With tears streaming down my face, I hugged all three of the guys responsible for the best early-birthday present ever.

**Hahaha, how did you like the Volvo reference? Funny, huh? Okay, don't kill me for letting her talk to Edward. Even us Team Jacob girls have to admit that he has _some_ qualities that are appealing. I want to make this fair and somewhat realistic. Many of us can agree that we didn't marry the first guy that swept us off our feet. We have to learn what we like in a person and it's a a rare occurance that our perfect person is the only person we've ever dated. Anyway, enough with the lecture. LET ME HEAR FROM YOU GUYS :) I wanna know what you want to see or give me a challenge like my beta has by giving me a line or a saying you'd like to see in the chapter and I'll try my hardest to put it in there (within reason, lol). Your reviews give me major motivation to write, so the more I get the faster I'll be back :) See you next time!**


	12. Chapter 12 Should I Stay or Should I Go?

**Yay! Another chapter! All the reviews and alerts from the last chapter TOTALLY pushed me to get this out. I hope too many of you don't completely hate me for where I take this chapter, but I say to you "Have faith!" If you've read my profile, you know who's team I'm on, so never fear, I will NOT disappoint. I LOVE drama so I have to throw some in there too, it's always more fun that way. Hehe. Thanks to Jennifer for reading over everything I do, I keep forgetting to put a freakin 'd' on the end of 'use'...she catches those for me lol, plus many other things. This chapter is the one we've all been waiting for, the question is...should she stay or should she go?: **

I drove my truck to First Beach with all my friends piled on the back, with the exception of Leah and Angela riding in the front with me. Today seemed brighter and more hopeful for some reason. I didn't even mind that Embry had tagged along.

Last night I had done a lot of thinking and I realized that being mad at Embry wouldn't fix a thing. I had had a great time at the movies despite his behavior and blatant lack of regard for my feelings. I couldn't help but replay in my mind the series of fortunate events that had transpired in my favor after what I thought would turn out to be a sucky night.

As I parked the truck, I scanned the lot for a familiar vehicle. I saw Rosalie's red convertible and a black Honda sitting a couple of spaces away from us. We made our way down the sandy incline towards the beach and spotted the five people we came looking for. All of them, excluding Rosalie, were volleying the ball back and forth already.

When they noticed us, naturally Emmett was the first one to speak. "Well lookie what the wolves dragged in."

"Funny, McCarty," Jake said in an emotionless tone. "I volunteer to be a team captain, who wants to be the other?"

"I'll do it," Emmett responded with that smile still fixed onto his face.

After the coin toss, it was decided that Jacob got to pick first. I automatically went and sat with Rosalie, Angela, and Emily who had decided to just be spectators. No way would I be allowed to play after my notorious nosedive into the sand last time.

After the teams were picked, Emmett was still one player short.

"I guess that leaves us with Bella," Emmett said out of nowhere.

I hadn't been expecting to be considered, let alone picked. Everyone was now looking at me and I felt my face blush.

"Umm, I think I'll just sit out. I would only be in the way," I disputed.

"That's crazy talk," Emmett objected. "You play a lot better than you give yourself credit for. You just had a little accident last time. That could happen to anybody."

"Really, don't feel bad for me. I'm fine just watching."

Emmett rolled his eyes and walked over to where I was sitting. He grabbed my arm to pull me up and hoisted me over his shoulder.

"If I have to take you by force, I will," he joked.

"Okay, okay, I'll play. Just put me down." He laughed as he settled my feet into the warm sand.

"Emmett, Bella got hurt last time. We don't want that to happen again," Edward argued as we made our way over to our team.

"She'll be fine. Ain't that right, Bella?"

"No promises. But I'll try," I responded.

"That's all we can ask for," Emmett said as he walked to our side of the net, visibly excited to get this game started. He was a jock through and through.

I almost fainted when I took my spot and saw what we were up against. It was Emmett, Jasper, Edward, Leah, myself, and Paul against all the other Quileute guys and Alice. I could already see our defeat looming. I wasn't exactly the poster child for team spirit, was I?

"You should have stayed on the sidelines, Bells. Now I'll have to whip your ass in front of everybody," Jacob taunted.

If I hadn't known that I'd break my hand on his face, I would have punched him square in the jaw. He was staring at me from the front row with a huge cocky smile. I couldn't let him win this game even if it killed me.

My team turned out to be better than I thought. Jasper's height was definitely an advantage and Emmett's strength would send the ball flying so fast the other team couldn't even see it coming. I got us a few points, yet I still felt like most of them were lucky shots.

After Jacob's team won by three points, everyone decided to take a dip in the ocean. The boys, mainly. I decided to hang out with the girls and take advantage of the down time. It was funny listening to them analyze each boy from our perch on the beach. They discussed who had the biggest muscles, the best tan (obviously a Quileute got that), the best smile, and so on. I started to feel uncomfortable until Emmett decided to jog up the beach towards us. They immediately became quiet, which I was thankful for…until _he_ started talking.

He squatted in the sand next to me and shot me his dimpled smile. I gave him a questioning look.

"There's a carnival tonight in Forks at the old fairgrounds and I was thinking that, if you're interested, we could go and have some fun. Play some games, rides some rides, you know, the usual," he suggested.

I was so taken aback that I didn't answer right away. I just stared at him. I realized my mouth was hanging open, so I played it off by saying, "Uhhh…"

"Look, I'll text you later and you can tell me if it would be something you'd want to do, okay?"

I nodded my head and he winked at me as he stood back up. I gawked at his back as he jogged over to the rest of the guys, who had taken up throwing a football around.

"Oh. Em. Gee. I can't believe I just witnessed that." I turned my head and saw that several pairs of eyes were fixated on me. Alice was the one that had spoken.

"You're going to say 'yes' right?" Angela asked.

"He seems like a really nice guy," said Emily.

All the girls were throwing question after question at me. Their babbling was echoing in my ears and all their words seemed to be running together. My mind was spinning and I had no idea how to make it stop. Well, except for…

"SHUT UP!" Their bickering instantly stopped and they looked at me with wide eyes. The guys even turned in our direction to see what the problem was. I lowered my voice and turned back to the girls. "Can we please just do this one at a time?" I asked.

"Sure, Bella. So what are you going to wear?" Alice chirped in.

"Who even said I was going?" I responded.

"We all know you will," Leah said. "You'd be crazy not to. I mean, look at him." She pointed to where he stood.

"Stop pointing!" I grabbed her hand from the air. "I barely know him!" I said frustrated.

"We've known him for a while," Rosalie said, motioning between herself and Alice, "and I think you should be flattered. He rarely asks girls out. They usually ask him. Besides, he's a good guy. Kind of a big kid, but he has a big heart."

I huffed. "I'll think about it." I figured that was the best I could give them at that moment to get them off of my back. I glanced back over at Emmett who was huddled with his team. I guess it couldn't hurt to have a fun night out, but would Charlie feel the same way?

After sending an affirmative text to Emmett along with my address that afternoon, the nerves started to set in. I had never really been on a "date" per say. Sure, Chad had suggested it, but it wasn't anything we ever pursued. I had three hours until Emmett picked me up so it wasn't lack of time that scared me; it was lack of knowledge. A thousand questions ran through my head and I had zero answers. I could tell you how to do any math problem known to man, but when it came to the opposite sex, I knew nada.

Charlie wasn't too upset with the fact that I was going out with a boy. He actually called Renee to confirm that it was "standard procedure." His only condition was that Emmett speak with him before we left. He knew Emmett already, but I guess he wanted to do the whole "dad interrogation" thing.

My cell phone buzzed, breaking me out of the cold sweat I was sure to put myself in worrying about tonight. It was a text from Jake.

_Quil's grandpa just brought in his SUV. U ready for our first customer?-Jake_

I sent back: _R u kidding me? _and ran out the door.

The vehicle was an '86 Ford Bronco, and it looked like it had seen better days. My advice would have been to scrap it for parts, but apparently Quil's grandpa couldn't give it up. After a thorough inspection under the hood, I had to make a few calls to the local parts dealers to order the odds and ends that Jake deemed necessary to help us satisfy our first customer.

"We don't have to do this tonight do we?" I asked.

Jake gave me a suspicious look. "No, he said he didn't need it until Tuesday. What's the problem with tonight? You got a date or something?" he laughed. He was obviously making a joke, but when he looked at my face, all traces of laughter disappeared.

"What?" I asked.

"You're blushing. _Do_ you have a date?"

"Well, I- kind of," I stammered.

"I see." He paused."Well, that's all you had to say." He turned back towards the Bronco.

"I don't want you to be mad that I can't work on the car tonight," I said, walking around to where I could see his face.

"I'm not. We have until Tuesday. Go out and have fun." He put on a smile I could have spotted as fake from a mile away.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" I asked, trying to get the attention off of me.

"Well, I had thought about seeing if you wanted to go to the carnival, but no big deal," he shrugged.

I felt my heart drop to my feet. He looked up at me because of my sudden silence. "You're going to the carnival, aren't you?" he asked knowingly.

I nodded my head.

"Is it too much to ask with whom?" He smiled, but I knew he meant business. His inner big brother was rearing its ugly head. I was more afraid to tell him than I was to tell Charlie. At least Charlie _liked_ the guy who was taking me out.

"I'd prefer not to tell you," I said, trying to delay the inevitable. Jake lived next to me. It's not like I could hide it for long. He seemed to have the same idea.

"I'll find out eventually. You might as well tell me now," he said. "Anyway, who could you possibly go out with that I wouldn't—" he stopped himself short. Comprehension seemed to dawn on him. His facial expression changed from curiosity to shock in a matter of seconds. "You've got to be shitting me, Bells!"

"I didn't even tell you who it was," I defended myself.

"You don't have to." His voice wasn't a calm façade anymore. It was getting louder. "There's only one person who I've specifically made it clear that I don't like. There's only one person that you'd be reluctant to tell me you're going out with."

"Charlie seems fine with it," I threw back at him.

"That's because Charlie doesn't hear the rumors I hear. Charlie only sees who his dad is and what he's like out in public."

"I don't know what you're afraid of, Jacob."

"I'm not afraid of anything."

"What is it then?"

"I've told you before; you're too good for him."

"You barely know him Jake!"

"Neither do you!" he spat back.

I had nothing to say back to that. He was right, but so was I.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked in a calmer voice.

"Doing what?"

"Making me choose between my best friend and dating a nice guy." My confession came out without me even realizing it.

Jake's expression softened and he asked, "You consider me your best friend?"

"I-I guess I do. I just feel like we understand each other, you know? Well, most of the time anyways," I said, referring to the current predicament.

"You're right. I'm not gonna make you choose. This is stupid. You have to make your own mistakes."

I decided to ignore his small implication that I was making a mistake. I just wanted this fight to be over with.

"I'm going to get ready. I'll see you later." I walked out of the garage, leaving Jacob sitting there, hopefully feeling bad for what he had said.

The beginning of the date went about as smooth as I could have hoped. I paced the living room floor with sweaty palms for a half hour before he got there. My butterflies almost convinced me to call and cancel while my dad sat in his recliner with a smug look on his face.

Emmett showed up on time and bravely took Charlie's warnings with a smile and more "yes sirs" than I could count. I dressed casual since we would be outside and I was thankful that he showed up in jeans too. While he hoisted me into the Jeep, I caught a glimpse of a face in the Black's front window. It was too high up to be Billy.

On the ride there, Emmett played a _Green Day_ CD, which he sang along to the whole way there. Usually, I would find this annoying, but he had a strange way of making it entertaining. I envied his ability to be so open and not so self-conscience.

The carnival was packed with people since it was a Saturday. Families, couples, gangs-you name it, we saw it. I felt at ease with Emmett. He seemed to put a good spin on everything. Even when he would lose a game, he would laugh and encourage me to try. We rode the lame carnival rides but we cackled the whole time. It was so much fun to feel like a kid again.

When we finally ran out of tickets and games to waste our money on, we made our way to the final ride: the Ferris wheel. I always related Ferris wheel's with making out, so this aspect of our night caused me great anxiety. Everything had gone so well, but now I'd be by myself with him…alone…no one else around…alone.

As we stood in line, I started fidgeting. He noticed and laughed.

"Are you scared of heights or something?" he asked.

"Something like that."

As expected, I tripped as I climbed into our seat. Emmett caught me before I could face plant though, which I was thankful for. I shivered because the combination of the cold steel we were sitting on and the cool air that whipped around us gave me chills. Emmett wrapped his arm around my shoulders as the wheel started moving.

I was glad we had saved this ride for last. The view was absolutely amazing. Since it had gotten so dark, you could see the all the flashing lights around us reflecting off of the big lake that was next to the carnival. Emmett made a game out of trying to guess what each building was in the distance. I easily spotted the police station since I had spent a lot of my childhood there. He spotted the school thanks to the goal posts at the football field that we could barely make out from this far away.

When the ride came to a stop, he remembered to help me out so I wouldn't embarrass myself. He held my hand on the walk back to the car and it felt nice. Our fingers weren't intertwined like a couple's. It was more of the way I had held my dad's hand when I was younger. Just the normal, non-weird way, but it felt right with Emmett. I didn't have a warm, fuzzy feeling. It was just comfortable, if that was the word. Kind of like it didn't have to be awkward and it didn't have to mean anything.

Our conversation on the way back to my house consisted of naming our favorite cereals. Weird, I know. But somehow it became a hilarious game where we tried to out-do the other. He ended up losing after not being able to think of anymore after about the hundredth one.

Emmett, trying to be a gentleman, walked me to the door of my house. I heard voices coming from inside. Dad must be watching a game.

"I had a great time tonight, Emmett," I said. _Classic movie line._

"Me too. We should do it again sometime." _Did I step onto the set of some 1950's movie?_

He reached down to hug me and he lifted me off the ground as he did so. I laughed and hugged him back.

He put me down and said, "I'll text you," as he walked back to his Jeep.

I waved and smiled as he drove off. As I turned around the open the door, a thought crossed my mind. In the few romantic movies I _had_ seen, the cliche was always the kiss at the front door at the end of the night. We didn't even get close to having a kiss. I was so worried about it before we got on the Ferris wheel, but I had nothing to fret about. It hadn't even crossed my mind after that, and Emmett hadn't even tried to sneak one. He was a great guy all around. No matter what Jake had said.

I opened the door and just about tripped over the threshold. My dad, Jake, and Billy were sitting in the living room watching TV. They all turned to me with expectant looks.

"Hey, Bells. How did it go?" dad asked.

"Fine." I really didn't want to discuss my night out with Emmett in front of Jake. He'd probably have some snide comment to contribute.

I walked to the kitchen to heat up some of the leftover casserole I made for Charlie before I left. I heard footsteps walk in behind me. Great.

"Umm, Bells. I just wanted to say that I was sorry. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings earlier." Jake said.

"Okay, thanks," I said, not even glancing in his direction.

"Seriously, can you just look at me?" He sounded desperate, so I looked at him.

"What?"

"I'm being sincere. I shouldn't have acted like I did and I feel bad for it. But it still doesn't change my opinion."

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "See, here I thought you were trying to do something good, but you have to throw a little bad in there too. Apologies with 'buts' aren't really apologies, okay?"

"Fine. Just forget it," he said, obviously irritated. He went to exit the kitchen and almost tumbled over his father in the process. Billy was coming through the doorway and gave Jake a questioning look.

Billy then turned his attention to me. "Charlie tells me you were out with Mr. McCarty's son. He treat you okay?" His question wasn't accusing like I feared it would be. I thought Jake may have told him his opinion on the subject. Billy actually seemed concerned.

"Yeah, thanks Billy. He's a really nice guy. I had a lot of fun." It didn't escape my notice that Jake rolled his eyes.

"Good, so no need for Charlie to hunt him down then," Billy laughed.

"No, not yet anyways," I joked back.

"Was this your first date?" Again, Billy wasn't trying to pry; he just seemed to be making casual conversation. Though I wondered if he meant my first date with Emmett or my first date ever. Either way, the answer was the same.

"Umm," I felt awkward saying this in front of Jake. "Yeah, it was."

"That's nice. First dates are always the most memorable. I can still remember my first date with Jake's mom, Sarah." Billy's eyes lit up with emotion, but he didn't cry, he just smiled.

"Had you dated other people before her?" I wondered. Jacob seemed to take interest in this question.

"Oh definitely, but none of them compared to her in the slightest," he explained.

"You didn't tell me about anyone you dated before mom," Jake chimed in. I was wondering when he'd say something. He'd been standing there on pins and needles since Billy had mentioned Sarah.

"None of them mattered. Once you find the right person, everything in the past is irrelevant."

I'd never considered myself a hopeless romantic. Romance novels and love stories didn't really appeal to me. I felt as if nothing that far-fetched would ever happen in real life, especially to someone as ordinary as me. But when someone sitting right beside me had experienced love in its truest form, how could I pass up the chance to hear the story?

"How did you know Sarah was the one, Billy?" I asked, settling down at the table with my food and a cup of tea.

"Well, I know a lot of people say "you just know," but sometimes it's not that easy. I feel like if you give people _that_ excuse for falling in love, they'll hang on to any feeling they have for another person, whether it's love, lust, or whatever. There's more to a relationship than feelings. Although feelings do play a big part, it's not the only part."

"I guess that makes sense," I said. "I get tired of people saying "you just know." I feel like it's a cop out. Like they don't really know the real reason they think a certain person is _the one_."

Billy laughed. "You know, I've thought the same thing. I think sometimes it _is_ a cop out because they can't think of a legitimate reason, or maybe they just don't know how to explain it."

"If someone asked you to explain it, dad, do you think you could?" Jake asked.

"Oh, definitely. It's actually quite simple." Jake and I sat there in silence, waiting for him to continue. Billy leaned forward in his chair and his face took on a serious look. "I believe there are three different connections that you have to have with your significant other. The first is a mental connection, where you feel like the other person is your intellectual equal. You don't want to spend the rest of your life with someone that talks over your head, or visa versa. The second is a friendship, where you can be yourself and not worry that they'll stop loving you. Your true friends accept you for you. You should never have to pretend to be someone you're not. And then obviously, you need a physical connection. I'm pretty sure I don't have to go into details about that." I blushed at his last words.

"So you knew all this on your first date with mom?" Jake asked skeptically.

"No, of course not. We were friends before we started dating so I knew the basics about her. Our first date just solidified the fact that we could be meant for each other."

"Ugh, Dad, please don't tell me that's when you learned about the physical connection." I burst out laughing at Jake's obvious disgust. Although, I too hoped Billy would keep the gory details to himself if that's where this story was going.

Billy's loud laugh echoed through the house again. Charlie even came to check on us. After we assured him that we weren't losing our minds, he resumed his position in the recliner.

"Please keep this story rated G, dad," Jake begged.

"Jake, my relationship with your mother wasn't solidified on sex. Sex should always come last. You don't want to give your body to someone who you're unsure about."

Jake nodded his head and I felt like having the ground swallow me up right then and there, just to get me out of this awkward hell. It was bad enough having the sex talk with Renee. But talking about sex in the kitchen with my dad's best friend and his son topped even that.

"How did you know on your first date then that she could be the one?" Jacob asked.

"The butterflies," he stated simply.

Jake and I exchanged looks. I'm sure we both thought Billy was messing with us. Did he really just say that?

"Care to elaborate?" Jake asked.

"It seemed like I dated girl after girl, looking for the right one, but no one ever _really_ caught my attention. They were all nice and pretty, some of them were even great friends of mine. But your mother was the only one to give me butterflies. I'm not talking about the nervous ones you get before you jump off the cliffs. I'm talking about the ones that never go away. Everything I did, no matter where I was, I was always thinking of her. The strange thing is, we had known each other from school and I had never felt them before I started looking at her as more than a friend."

"That's a great story Billy. Did she feel them too?" I wondered.

"I'd like to think so. She may not have called it butterflies, but I know she felt something. She told me I made her feel different."

After my talk with Billy and Jake in the kitchen, I thought back to my date. As I lay on my bed recounting the events of tonight, I regretted not getting that funnel cake Emmett had offered to buy me. It would have made a great midnight snack.

I dozed off as I was remembering the view from the Ferris wheel. In my sleep induced haze, I heard a light tapping noise that was keeping me from falling into a deep sleep. I wondered if I was dreaming the sound, but I didn't know where it was coming from. With effort, I opened my eyes. My room was pitch black so I couldn't see if something in the room was making the noise. Every few seconds I could still hear it.

I reached over and turned on my bedside lamp. Nothing around me seemed out of the ordinary. The tapping seemed to be coming from the window. I got up and walked towards my closed curtains. I hesitantly looked out and thankfully didn't see anyone. I was extremely confused as to what the noise was.

As I was closing my curtains back, a light flashed across my face. I looked up and noticed Jake leaning on his windowsill…shirtless. Since my clock was telling me it was 2 a.m., I was wondering why he was even awake. In pure curiosity, I opened my window as well and leaned out.

"Can you tell me why in the world you are throwing stuff at my window at this time in the morning?" I hissed at him.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Oh good answer," I said sarcastically. "You figured you'd let me not get any sleep either?"

"Well, since you're part of the reason I can't sleep, it only made sense to wake you up too."

This got my attention. I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked.

"I feel bad for how we left things. You tell me I'm your best friend and then I pretty much throw a fit about you going out with someone I'm not fond of. Best friends don't do that," he said matter-of-factually.

"You're right. And thanks, it means a lot."

"Just promise me you'll tell me if he treats you bad," he said quickly before I could put my window down.

I laughed. "I promise Jake. But I don't think you have anything to worry about. We didn't even kiss."

"Okay, okay, I don't need details. I just...I want you to be happy."

"Thanks. I want me to be happy too," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. He laughed too, if only a little. "It was just one date. It's not like we're picking out china patterns."

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Did you have butterflies?" Even across the small expanse of yard that was in between us, I could feel his gaze on my face.

I thought back to my night with Emmett. It was fun, carefree, and hysterical. Our conversations were light and meaningless. He was a great guy to hang out with, there was no denying it. I could definitely see a second date in our future. I was sure there weren't many guys like him.

But there was something missing.

"No Jake, no butterflies." I closed my window and hopped back into bed.

Before I went on my date, I hadn't known about the butterflies, so I didn't know what to look for. Yet now, as I lay in bed, I still had none thinking about Emmett. Maybe it wasn't the same with everyone. Maybe Billy's situation had been different.

I rolled over and closed my eyes. I fell asleep and dreamed of Ferris wheels and cars shaped in the form of butterflies. These people were messing with my mind, but I still held a soft spot for all of them.

I received random texts from Emmett over the next few weeks, but all we exchanged were slight banters here and there. I didn't hint at a second date considering my mom had called a few days ago letting me know that school would be starting back soon. After hearing that bit of information, I kind of felt like I was going in fast forward. I tried spending more time with Charlie and more time with my friends, but that only made my days end sooner.

On Tuesday morning, I sat in my room with an ache in my heart. I knew it was because of my impending departure from La Push. I didn't dare tell anyone how I felt for fear that they might convince me stay. I barely let myself think about going back to Phoenix unless my mother brought it up over the phone. My willingness to just let this matter go unresolved caused me to become a sort of robot. I had no emotion and I walked around on autopilot most of the time.

After dragging myself out of the bed, I put on some shorts and a dirty t-shirt so I could go help Jake work on Mr. O'Malley's Ford Taurus. I figured it would help me keep my mind off of less desirable thoughts. Boy was I wrong.

You would assume that patching a tire would keep my mind occupied, but when I realized this may be one of my last times in this garage, I broke down on the floor next to the tire I had just removed.

I heard Jake throw down his wrench and run over to where I laid. My sobs racked through my body and I couldn't control them even if I had tried. I had held all my emotions in too long, and now they were coming out with vengeance. I felt Jake lift me up into his arms and carry me over to our work bench.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" he asked panicked.

"I'm f-fine," I sobbed.

"Yeah, you sound fine," he said sarcastically.

"I'm s-sorry."

"Why are you apologizing for crying?"

"You shouldn't h-have t-to see me like th-this."

"Hey, hey, hey." He pushed my head up to face him and pried my hands away so I couldn't hide my face. "Look at me, now tell me what this is about."

"I told you I was fine," I weakly argued. I looked to the side so I didn't have to meet his eyes.

"Hey," he pulled my face back, "It's me Bells. You can tell me anything."

I could feel my lips quivering. I stared into his eyes and realized that leaving here meant leaving Jake too. My brother. My business partner. My best friend.

"Oh Jake," I cried as I threw myself into his chest. I buried my face into his shirt and cried until there were no more tears left.

After I had settled down, he stood in front of me silent. I saw that there was a huge wet spot splayed across his chest. He seemed to not even notice. He was looking directly at my face, probably waiting on an explanation. After all that, I think he deserved one.

"My mom called last week and reminded me that school starts back soon," I began in a small voice.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from him. After a second he said, "And?"

"I've been sad about leaving."

"Does she know that?"

"No," I answered truthfully.

"Will you be happier back in Phoenix?"

"I…it's…no…" I sighed. "I was always supposed to go back, Jake. This summer was only temporary." Again, I couldn't look him in the eye.

"Things don't always go the way we plan, Bella. Sometimes they change for the better."

"I didn't come here to change. I just came to visit Charlie." I finally got the courage to look at him and I wished I hadn't. All I saw was hurt.

"I guess you got more than you bargained for then," he replied.

"I found way more than I expected to find. I had more friends here my first night than all the years I spent in Arizona. I felt like I could finally be myself and no one would care. I found people I could trust and care about." I stopped before I rambled on too much and made myself cry again.

"And you willing to leave all that behind for what?" he inquired.

I shrugged my shoulders. "The place I've been all my life. The place I know. My mom is expecting me back."

"So you're not going back for your own happiness then are you?"

"I'll be happy," I lied to him.

"Oh really? How many Quil's are there back in Phoenix? I'm willing to bet none. How many Leah's or Angela's will you find back there? You told me I was your best friend. Will you just find a new one?" His tone was starting to sound annoyed. "Most importantly, you won't find your dad back there. He's here."

"I know that."

"Then open your eyes, Bella. Everything you want…no, everything you _need_ is right here in La Push. This is your home. You know it, and I know it." He didn't sound mad anymore. Jake was starting to sound desperate, like this was his only chance to make me see reason. He was probably right.

I jumped down off the work bench and walked back towards the Taurus. "C'mon, let's finish this."

He huffed and stormed back over to what he was working on before my outburst. We barely spoke the rest of the time I was there. This was why I didn't want to talk to anybody about my situation. I knew they'd give me the legitimate reasons that I had tried to keep from myself. Now my mind was reeling with "what if's" and they wouldn't cease until I came to terms with them.

Thursday I spent the whole day telling everyone goodbye. My flight was leaving early the next morning so I wouldn't have time to tell them then. I held in my tears until Jake came over to say goodbye that evening. As soon as he walked in my bedroom door, I collapsed onto my bed, tears streaming.

He sat down and let me lay across his lap until I was finished. Jake proposed that we take a walk down the beach to get my mind off things. I agreed just so I could get out of the house.

"See you guys in a few," said Charlie as we walked out the back door.

Jake took me down to the docks where we used to fish with our dads. It still looked the same, just a little older. He tried to convince me to put my feet in the water like I use to when I was younger, but I declined.

About half a mile down the beach, I spotted a group teenagers running around, some on the shore and some riding the waves. As we got closer, I recognized Leah and Paul. Upon further inspection, it was all the La Push friends I had been hanging out with all summer.

"Hmm, I wonder what they're doing," Jacob speculated.

I saw that they had started a big fire on the sand and had seats spread around it like usual. Everyone waved and ran to meet Jake and me as we got closer.

Even though I wasn't hungry, I couldn't pass up the burgers they had already grilled before we got there. Everyone seemed to be dead set on having a good time and not mentioning that I would be leaving tomorrow. For this, I was glad.

My dad and Billy even showed up claiming they had seen smoke and wondered who the cause of it was. I sat between Jake and Charlie as we ate and watched the others joke and laugh. I really wasn't in the mood to joke, so I sat silent and watched those around me.

When the sun started to set, I excused myself from the group. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts, so I walked back down the beach where we had previously come from. When I reached the docks, I decided to stop there for a bit. At least it was quiet.

I slipped off my shoes and dangled my feet off of the end of the dock, feeling the warm water slosh through my toes. It brought back memories of hooks and worms and a little black haired boy sitting beside me. I didn't even realize I was crying until a tear hit my hand.

I had been staring at the horizon, watching the sun sink lower and lower. This would probably be the last sunset I would see for a while. In Phoenix, seeing the sun set was a rare occurrence. Even the stars were hard to see with all the city lights around.

As I looked back at the setting sun, I realized everyone's life was full of sunsets, so to speak. We end one chapter and start another. Was La Push really just a short chapter that had already been written in my life? Or was it a chapter I still wanted to continue?

I pulled out my phone and looked at the background picture. It was Jake and I sitting on the hood of my truck. It was taken a few weeks ago by Leah when Jake was showing me how to replace my windshield wipers. I had accidentally put them on backward and Jake and I were both laughing hysterically. It was a good picture because neither one of us knew she was taking it. It was a completely genuine moment and it held our real smiles.

Who knew that a simple picture could hold the answer to my decision?

I scrolled through the numbers, found "Mom's Cell," and pressed SEND. Fortunately, I got her voicemail.

"Mom, I hate to do this to you, but…I love it here in La Push and I can't fathom leaving all this behind. I have a job, a truck and some pretty terrific friends. I don't have that back home. Plus, I feel like Charlie needs me. You have Phil to take care of you, but Charlie doesn't have anyone but Billy. I hope you don't hate me for this. I'll pay you back for the plane ticket. I love you."

I shut my phone and let out the breath I had been holding all summer.

**Wooo hooo! She took the first step! But will Renee be on board? Uh oh. **

**Hope you guys don't hate me too much for the date with Emmett. C'mon he's a good guy ;)**

**A HUGE thank you to _Addicted22_ for the sunset idea and _feebes86_ for the explanation to Renee on why Bella wants to stay in La Push.**

**If you liked that I updated faster than the least you can do is leave me a line or two or three...or twenty, whatever you deem necessary, how bout that? Hehe. Obviously they give me inspiration and make me want to make you guys happy! I'm not working as much now so I _should..._key word, _should_ have more time to write. I loved the challenges a few of you gave me this past time. Let me know what you wanna see happen next, give me a line to incorporate, or SOMETHING! Lol, ok I'll quit babbling. See you next time!**


	13. The Aftermath and Unforseen Incidents

**Hi all! So so sorry for the long wait, it was only a few days ago I realized it had been a MONTH since I had updated. Shame on me! I had a busy November. My husband and I actually went on a cruise so that took up some writing time lol. I enjoyed writing a lot of this chapter and I hope it shows. Thanks to Jennifer for beta-ing cuz my use of Notepad screwed up some things and she spotted them. Also to quote her, she said "this was like the best chapter EVER!" so I hope you share in her enthusiasm. This is a great compliment from her considering she's Team Edward...yet, I love her anyway :) Also, my husband is a sweetheart for letting me bounce ideas off of him as he drives, which I know can be completely annoying having to listen to stuff you're not even remotely interested in. But that's what marriage is about right? LOL. Enjoy the chapter! **

Chapter 13- The Aftermath and Unforeseen Incidents

Instead of facing everyone at the beach and being the coward that I am, I sent "I'm staying" text messages to all of my friends. I had no doubt the news would get to my dad considering he was right there with them. I would have been happy to tell them in person, but the thought of so much attention just didn't appeal to me at the moment. I guess it felt bitter sweet.

I trudged my way back to the house. It was dark enough now that I had to rely on the wee bit of moonlight that shown through the trees to guide me. Once I was in my own backyard again, I climbed the porch steps and made my way to my bedroom. Even though I was happy to be staying, it was still distressing not knowing when the next time I'd see my mom would be. I hadn't been away from her this long before.

I decided to get ready for bed, but before I could even find pajamas, I heard the front door crash open. My first thought was, _Oh great, someone has decided to break into the house when I'm the only one here_. But after a few seconds, I heard not only one person, but several.

"Isabella Marie Swan! Where the hell are you?" I recognized Leah's voice as she shouted from the living room. I was actually a little scared to face her and whoever she was with.

I timidly opened my bedroom door and poked my head into the hallway. I looked toward the front room and saw that all my friends where piling through the door, Leah in front with her hands on her hips. Upon further inspection, I saw that she had a smile on her face.

"I can't believe you're staying!" She squealed as she ran down the hallway towards me. She grabbed me into a huge hug and I could have sworn she was close to tears.

"It's not that big of a deal," I said, trying to make her feel better.

"What? Are you kidding me? This is a huge deal!"

Just as she said this, Angela came running down the hallway as well. We all ended up tangled in a three-person hug. If anything, this solidified my decision to stay. I hadn't realized until La Push the female interaction that I needed, and now that I knew what it felt like, it would have been hard to leave my best girlfriends.

My phone rang around that time and Leah and Angela went back towards the front of the house while I answered the dreaded phone call.

I flipped it open, "Hi, Mom."

"…Is this what you want?" She didn't sound angry. She didn't even sound sad. She sounded genuinely as if she could be okay with this if this was what I wanted.

"I really love it here and I can't imagine leaving it now. I'll miss you a lot, but I have to do what I fell is best…for me." It was hard to get those last two words out. All my life, I couldn't remember ever saying those two selfish words, but I knew it was time.

"As long as it's for you and not Charlie, like your voicemail said, I'm fine with it. But, honey, he's a grown man. You don't have to take care of him."

"I don't want to take care of him, mom. I want to spend time with him. I think I could really be happy here."

"All I ever wanted was for you to be happy." I heard her sniffle as she said this. _Great, now I made her cry._

"I know. And now you can travel more with Phil. It'll be fun." I tried to sound cheery and it seemed to work a little.

We talked for a few more minutes and I explained what I would need sent here from her house, which made her cry even more. After assuring her that I loved her, I had to hurry off the phone since I heard more house guests arriving and I was curious as to who they were.

The kitchen was completely filled with my La Push buddies who had brought all the food from the beach plus more. Charlie straggled in a little later with pizza and ice cream. Apparently, my staying was cause for celebration. I hadn't seen my dad so happy since the day he met me at the airport. Over the summer it seemed as if the light in his eyes was dimming. But now that I was staying, he looked like the cheerful guy I had always loved.

Charlie was in such a jovial mood, he even let Seth play his music loud. Everyone was dancing and having a good time, but about a half hour into the "party" I noticed something seemed off. After a few minutes of searching, I realized this party was one guy short. Jake. He wasn't here. My best friend wasn't here. Didn't he care that I was staying? After all, he was the one trying to convince me that La Push was my home. Yet, here I stand in the middle of all my friends without the one I spent the most time with this summer.

I quickly found my dad. Maybe he would have the answer. "Dad, have you seen Jake around?" I asked.

"Jake? He left the beach right after you did. I thought he had followed you."

"No, I haven't seen him."

"Maybe he went home."

After I confirmed that Billy didn't know where Jake had gone either, I attempted to call him numerous times. After about the thirtieth time, I hung up and felt my eyes start to burn. No one around me seemed to notice my mood and they continued to sing, dance, and eat. It was like being on a merry-go-round when you were sick. You want to find a way off, but it's not as easy as it seems. So instead of being rude, I slipped away from the group to the one place I could hope not to be interrupted. The bathroom.

As I sat on the edge of the tub staring at the bathroom door, I started to question my decision for the first time. I guess with how passionate Jake had been about me staying here, I had expected a little more reaction out of him. What I didn't expect was for him to be completely missing.

I stayed perched on the tub for another five minutes listening to the sounds going on in the house. I could guess each person as they took turns for karaoke, I heard shouts every now and then for Seth to play a certain song, and I heard each time the front door was opened. After one particularly loud entrance from someone, I decided it was time to come out of my safe zone. It was rude to be missing from my own party. Enough with the sulking.

I stood up to look myself over in the mirror, making sure there were no traces of puffy eyes or a red nose. As I was reaching for the door knob, someone lightly tapped on the other side.

"Bells? Are you in there?" I heard him ask. I guess he decided to finally show up.

"Yeah," I responded.

"What are you doing?"

"Two guesses," I said back sarcastically.

"You aren't using the bathroom, I can tell. You're too close to the door." _Damn. Why didn't I think of that?_

"Can I help you?" My plan was to just change the subject.

"I came over to see you."

Maybe I could make him give me answers first. "Where have you been?"

"At home in the bed. I didn't answer my phone because I thought it was one of the guys. I just ignored it. I'm sorry."

"Why were you sleeping, it's still early?" I wondered.

"I wasn't sleeping. There was too much on my mind. I didn't feel like talking to anybody because I was upset about you leaving tomorrow." His voice steadily got lower as he finished talking, like he was afraid to admit this to me.

I don't know what made me do it, but I unlocked the door and stepped back. Jake turned the handle and pushed open the door. He must have just ran over here because all he had on were a pair of sleep pants that had the _Big Dog_ logo emblazoned all over them. His hair was down and his bare chest was heaving like he was out of breath.

His eyes locked with mine and he spoke in a whisper that I could barely hear, "You're staying?"

I slowly nodded my head and before I knew it, he was across the bathroom lifting me up into a huge bear hug. I couldn't help but laugh at his theatrics, but deep down I was elated to get this response from him. My best friend was glad I wasn't leaving after all.

As my feet once again found purchase on the floor, I looked up into his dark eyes. My hands were resting on his biceps and his were placed on my hips now. I could feel his breath on my face and how warm his chest was against mine. This interaction had suddenly turned dangerous. I didn't know what to do next. We had been this close before, but never with this nervous hum in the air. Any words I could have spoken were caught in my throat but I didn't know what to say anyway.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked in a deep yet quiet voice. I saw how his eyes flicked from my eyes to my mouth. I had seen those gestures before, only with a different person, and I knew what they meant. There was no way Jake wanted to kiss me. Or was there?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. Jacob Black probably had the best lips I'd seen up close so far. They were big and wet and juicy…I wonder how they taste…_Snap out of it!_ _He's like your freakin' brother for crying out loud!_

I opened my mouth to answer him, but my mind couldn't form a response. I shook my head to remove the fog surrounding it. "I didn't want to leave Charlie, my friends, the garage…" _Should I say it?_ "You." The last part was said in a whisper. I knew it was the truth, but why was it so hard to say?

I had taken up looking at his neck, which was eye level, to keep from looking at his face. After I finished speaking, his breathing started to pick up and I was afraid I had made him upset or something so my evasion of eye contact was no longer possible. I had to look at him to know how he was feeling and when I did, my eyes flicked to _his_ lips. Oops.

Jacob's hands tightened on each of my hips and he pushed me roughly against the bathroom wall. I opened my mouth to protest as my back hit the wall, but all that escaped me was a slight moan. I felt heat pool between thighs and I was taken aback at the effect this guy was having on me. My stomach was in knots and I suddenly felt light-headed.

He put each of his hands flat against the wall on either side of my head. But my gaze was on his abs, which I now took full notice of. I wanted to touch them and see how his skin felt under my fingers, so…I did. When I glided down past his pecks onto his abs, I watched as his eyes rolled back and he shivered. I bit my lip at the intensity of his reaction. He seemed so vulnerable, yet when he opened his eyes, I saw no vulnerability. I saw pure hunger.

Jacob crashed his lips into mine before I even saw it coming. I felt one of his hands glide down my side and clutch my behind so he could pull me flush against him. His other hand grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled it back so my neck was exposed to him. Again, I let out a moan I was completely powerless in stopping.

As his lips attached themselves to my neck, he took both hands and hoisted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. Even though we still had our clothes on, it was a relief to have any friction he could give me. I rocked against him a few times and when he adjusted his stance, I could feel evidence that I wasn't the only one enjoying this.

I dug my nails into his back and relished in the unfamiliar feelings that were coursing through my body. I wasn't an expert at this kind of thing, but this _had_ to be pretty good. I could barely breathe and my body seemed to have a mind of its own. My legs pulled Jake even closer, my hands touched every bare area I could find, my breaths came in gasps, and my lady parts were enjoying this entirely too much.

I felt him pull the left strap of my shirt down and nip and suck at my shoulder and collar bone. This drove me absolutely crazy. My legs embarrassingly spasmed around him and I made high-pitched squeal that I didn't think I would be capable of before now. He caught it with his mouth and our tongues tangled for what seemed like hours. Our moves collided perfectly and I melted into the savor that was _him_.

"Jake," I said, whispering the only thing on my mind at this point in time. He was all that surrounded me. His heat was all I felt. His skin, his hair, his muscles, his lips, his taste encompassed everything else.

"Bella," fell off his lips. This confirmed that he, too, felt the intensity of this. We were caught up in our own little world, just this once. No garage, no responsibilities, no parents...

_Wait. Parents. Friends. The other room. Oh my gosh..._

It took all the will-power I possessed to detach Jake's lips from mine. And when I did, he wasn't angry or hurt, he just leaned his forehead against mine.

He lightly laughed, "I was wondering when we'd come back to our senses."

"Thankfully, soon enough. Before we did something even more stupid." I didn't mean it to sound so harsh, but it probably came out that way.

I slowly retracted my legs from around his waist as I was lowered back down the wall that I was still pinned up against. When I was safely standing on my own two feet, (a little wobbly, I might add) I attempted to straighten my clothes and hair as Jacob attempted to _deal_ with other things. He was staring at the opposite wall taking deep breaths and chanting something that sounded like "dead puppies, dead puppies." I couldn't help but notice that the foot of space that was in between us was almost completely bridged by his erect member. Meaning, from the looks of it, it was way above average length.

I swear I hadn't meant to stare, but from the amused look I received from Jake, I'm sure he didn't mind my curiosity.

"See something you like?" he quipped.

Blushing, I responded, "Oh, shut up."

"Was there a reason you were staring?"

_Duh, just wondering if they're supposed to be that huge_. "I wasn't staring, just...curious."

"I can quench your curiosity, if you'd like," he said playfully, reaching towards his waistband.

"No, no, no. I just thought it looked..." I really didn't want to finish my sentence.

"Looked what?" His eyes held a twinkle that let me know he knew full well what I wanted to say. He just wanted to hear it come out of my mouth.

"Never mind." I shook my head. "We shouldn't even be talking about this."

"You're right. Sorry." He cleared is throat. "I'm not really sure what just happened here...," he trailed off.

"I think we were both just caught up in the moment. We were excited that I'm staying in La Push and things just got carried away. It would probably be better if we forget this ever happened."

"Yeah, I mean, you see it in movies all the time. Friends usually end up making out somewhere completely random and don't remember it the next day. Except in our case, it'll be by choice. Not by alcohol or drugs or something," he joked. I could tell he was trying to act like this was no big deal, but we both knew it was. Neither one of us chose to mention that in movies, those friendships he mentioned were never the same again.

I'll admit that I lay in bed that night wondering why all of sudden I was attracted to Jake. I came to the conclusion that I had come so close to leaving him tomorrow that the feelings of relief I felt by staying had been somewhat confused as attraction. He was my best friend in all senses of the word and now I was scared we had ruined the great camaraderie we had developed.

Again, I was wrong. The days went by in the garage like always and we never once mentioned our bathroom extravaganza. Maybe I should rephrase. Everything on the _outside_ was the same, but I looked at Jake in a whole new way now. The first day that we saw each other after our "incident," he wore a tank top which displayed deep red scratches on his back and shoulders. I had no doubt they were _my_ doing and that he didn't wear that shirt by accident. Even though it was a subtle reminder of that night, it still made my heart beat faster at the sight of it.

Ignoring the elephant in the room became our specialty. We settled back into the light conversations we had before the "incident" (as I've decided to call it) and kept it our little unspoken secret. I had even made a second date with Emmett once he found out I was staying in town, but it came with a price to pay.

I had went to the grocery store on Charlie's request a few days before to pick up some things that he hadn't had time to get. I saw Jasper collecting carts outside and Emmett came into view as soon as I walked through the sliding doors. He and Rosalie were goofing off and trying to create a pyramid with the soda display.

Instead of interrupting, I made my way through the aisles to get the items I needed since I'd probably speak to him when I finally made it to the cash register. I said finally because I'd never been in here before, so I had no idea where anything was. I walked down each aisle searching like a lost puppy for each specific thing on my list. What I didn't expect was to see Edward sweeping the floor on aisle seven.

"Okay, I officially need help," I blurted out.

He looked up and his crooked smile spread across his face when he realized who I was. "Mental or physical?" he asked.

"Well, not personal help. Just help finding everything Charlie needs. I feel like I've been up and down every aisle already." I was beginning to sound like I was whining.

Edward laughed. "No problem. Let me see your list." I handed it to him. "This'll take us no time."

He was right. Edward found everything like a pro, which didn't surprise me. He'd probably stocked these shelves hundreds of times. We talked about school starting soon and the fact that I decided to stay. He seemed very interested in why I made my choice. It was hard to explain, but I simply stated I wanted to spend more time with Charlie. No use telling him I basically had no friends to go home to, besides my mom.

I had never found it easy to shop, in any store, with a male. Though surprisingly, it had been a breeze to shop with Edward simply because he understood a lot of my preferences as he escorted me throughout each aisle. I had learned that he, also, enjoyed cooking and appreciated the art of culinary satisfaction. Some of the things on Charlie's list were for mediocre cooks, so I knew better than to buy them.

As we approached the checkout counter, it kind of got awkward. Emmett was running the cash register and when he spotted me he ran around the counter and scooped me into a hug.

I glanced at Edward who gave Emmett a questioning look. I tried to light-heartedly laugh and said, "Hi to you too, Emmett."

"It's good to see you Bella. I've been expecting a text telling me you were heading back to Phoenix," he responded.

"Nope, I've decided to settle down in La Push with my dad."

His eyes got huge. "No way! That's awesome!" He held his hand up for a high five which I returned. "Too bad you won't be going to our school, you'd love it."

"I've got a lot of friends on the Reservation, so hopefully it won't be too bad."

"Now you'll be around to watch me finish my last year of high school football." Emmett jutted his lip out like he was pouting.

"So you're a senior?" I asked, feeling stupid that I didn't know this before now.

"Yep, so is Rose and Jasper. Alice and Eddie, here, are juniors," he clarified.

"Don't call me Eddie," Edward said through clenched teeth. Obviously, this wasn't the first time Emmett had called him that.

"This Friday everybody who's anybody will be at the old drive-in on Saunders Street," Emmett rambled on without paying any attention to Edward's comment. "It's kind of a back-to-school bonfire for the high school kids around here. The owner of the drive-in usually has some kind of event every month or so, probably to keep all the teenagers out of trouble." He laughed. "But if you want to go, I'd be glad to take you. We pretty much eat, hang out, and catch a flick or two. It's a blast."

Again, I glanced at Edward who was pretending to bag my groceries, but I could tell he could hear every word that was said. I guess I felt bad that Edward had spent the past half hour helping me, but here I was getting asked out by another guy. Not that Edward had even given any hint that he was interested in me.

"Umm, I guess that sounds fun. Maybe I'll meet some more people I'll be going to school with in a few weeks."

"Great! I'll pick you up around seven."

The deafening silence between Edward and I as he carried my bags to my truck was awkward to say the least. The ease with which we spoke earlier was now gone and it kind of made me sad. Our earlier chat seemed to have drifted away at the checkout counter.

When he finished loading the bags onto the bed of the truck, I decided it was time to say something. "I'm sorry if Emmett made you feel uncomfortable in there."

He shrugged his shoulders. "No, it's not that…I just…he kind of stole my thunder."

"Your thunder? What does that mean?" I said, barely able to hide the giggle that was lodged in my throat.

"You know, like he did something before I could, taking the focus off of me and putting it on himself." Edward's eyes were glued onto the ground and his face flushed a little.

I was completely dumbfounded. I was afraid to say anything because it might be the _wrong_ thing. His feelings were hurt and he was embarrassed, which in turn, caused me to be embarrassed for him. It was one of those moments where you want to give someone a hug to make them feel better, but you don't think you should because it might make things worse. What. A. Dilemma.

"Umm..." was all I could manage.

He looked up at me and quickly spoke. "I wasn't going to ask you to go to the drive-in or anything. There's just this thing…and I know you like food…I mean, making food…and I wasn't going to go, but if someone were to come with me…," he trailed off. This had to be the longest five minutes of his life, because I know it was for me. "Never mind. I'll see you around."

Before I could say anything else, he spun around on his heel and walked back towards the entrance of the store. I had to pull myself out of the stupor I was in and once I got in the truck, I glanced in the rear-view mirror. This was the price I had to pay: hurting a great guy's feelings just to go on another date with Emmett. If I had known dating would be this hard, I doubt I would have started in the first place.

Apparently, the drive-in was even bigger news than I thought. In the couple months I had been here, no one had even mentioned it. But the "Back-to-School Bash," as they were calling it, seemed to be on everyone's radar. Jake confirmed that the whole gang would probably go, which furthered my second date dilemma. I'd rather not have Jake watching my entire night with Emmett, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of the drive-in sparked Jake's interest and he pried it out of me that I had a date.

"You sure are weighing all your options aren't you?" he asked, smiling arrogantly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is the second person you've went out with in less than…what? Three weeks."

"Actually, it's still the first person," I shot back. I didn't like him assuming I was some trashy girl who'd just go out with _anybody._ Okay, so maybe Emmett wasn't my first choice, but he'd asked me out first and those were the rules. He was still a great catch.

After Jake comprehended what I meant, I watched his jaw tighten and he turned back to the task he was doing on the Lincoln we were servicing.

"Don't go all pouty face on me just because I'm going out with Emmett again. You said you'd back me up as my best friend," I reminded him.

His face softened. "I'm sorry. But you better promise me I won't catch you two making out behind the refreshment stand or I won't be responsible for my actions." By his tone, I could tell he was only half serious.

"What kind of person do you think I am?" I laughed. "PDA isn't one of my specialties. And neither is kissing for that matter." I blushed at my admission.

"What do you mean?" Jake had suddenly become interested in this conversation. He had even laid his tool down.

"What part of that didn't you understand?"

"The kissing part. You don't think you're good?"

I tried to focus my attention on the bolt I was tightening, but my face felt red-hot. Ignoring him crossed my mind, but this was Jake, he'd badger me until I answered.

"I just doubt I am. I've kissed a whopping two guys in my whole life."

"Who would they be?" Wow. He was really enjoying this. Jake was now propped next to me with his arms crossed and a smug grin on his face.

"Shut up."

"Well, maybe you should ask _them_ if you're any good. If it were me, I'd like to know if I sucked at it or not. I mean, you don't want to embarrass yourself if Emmett wants a little sugar Friday night."

My head snapped up to his face and I could see he was fighting back laughter. I took a greasy cloth and threw it at his face as he busted out into a fit of giggles.

"You are such a moron," I said as I walked over to the workbench and plopped down on it. I wasn't in the mood to work anymore.

He slowly walked over to me and crouched down so we were eye level. He leaned his arms on the top of my legs and his face was inches from mine…yet again.

That annoyingly cute and cocky smile spread across his face again. "You could kiss me, for example. I don't mind if you want to use me to experiment," he said in his deep, sultry voice.

I felt and heard my breath catch in my throat. It _was_ an enticing idea, but I think he was just toying with me. Before I could accidentally-on-purpose glance as his perfect set of lips, I jumped to my feet, effectively throwing him off of me.

"I think I'll take my chances," I said striding over to the tool box.

He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself, but don't say that I didn't offer."

And we continued on with our work as if nothing ever happened. What exactly our relationship was turning into, I had no idea.

That Friday, Leah and Angela were at my house two hours before we were scheduled to leave. Our friends would all be meeting at Jake's house also at seven to head to the drive-in. I was jealous that I couldn't tag along with them, but my night would be spent with God-knows-who besides Emmett.

Leah made me try on at least ten different outfits before she was satisfied with my denim skirt and yellow halter top. She reminded me that I'd be the star quarterback's date and I had to look _hot_. This reminder did nothing to calm my nerves. Tonight would possibly be a vital stepping stone in the next two years of my life. Over the summer I hadn't worried _too_ much about making an impression, but now that I was staying, my image was at stake. Tonight could most likely decide if I'd be accepted by my peers or deemed as one sitting at the loser's table at lunch.

At a quarter 'til seven Emmett showed up in his infamous Jeep. I waved goodbye to Leah, Angela, and the rest of the crowd who were piling into three cars in front of Billy's house. The smug grin that Jake shot me made me roll my eyes as Emmett helped me climb into the passenger's side.

As we were riding down the road, we made small talk as usual. We discussed football games, classes, how everyone reacted to my decision, and what movies we would be watching that night. The drive-in would be playing "What Happens in Vegas" and "Grown Ups," which I was super excited about. Comedies rocked.

While we talked about the movies, Emmett tuned the radio to the station we could hear them on as they were playing. I watched his big paw-like hands skim through the channels and marveled at how giant they seemed. What I didn't see coming was him placing his hand on my bare knee. Surprisingly, it didn't make me uncomfortable or nervous, which was weird. As big as Emmett is, he could easily take advantage of me and I'd have no say in it, but I knew I had nothing to worry about.

The drive-in seemed to be fashioned like the one in the movie _Grease_, just without the speaker boxes at each car. As soon as we parked, Emmett opened his door to get out. I reluctantly followed. He grabbed my hand and held it again like he had done at the fair, which wouldn't have been so bad if everyone hadn't seemed to be looking at us.

I felt my face blush as Emmett led us by this group of girls (probably cheerleaders) whose faces reflected that of shock and jealousy. I kept my face looking forward and saw he was headed towards a group of guys sitting on the tailgate of a blue truck. I didn't recognize any of them, but they all smiled when they saw our clasped hands.

"McCarty! 'Bout time you showed up," a tall, slim guy with blonde hair said.

"This must be the legendary Bella," said another guy who jumped off the back of the truck and made his way towards us.

"Yep, guys this is Bella. She's Chief Swan's daughter, so you have to be nice to her regardless." We all laughed at Emmett's announcement and he proceeded to go around the group and introduce me to each person, even though I probably wouldn't remember them all.

I kind of felt like the odd-man-out for the next half hour. Emmett and his football buddies discussed this upcoming season, teachers they hoped to get or not get, and other miscellaneous stuff that had me bored out of my mind. I had spotted Leah about ten minutes ago about six cars away, but I thought it might be rude to go searching for a friend when I was supposedly Emmett's date. Don't get me wrong, Emmett _tried_ to include me in some of their discussions, but my lack of familiarity with Forks and Forks High wasn't helping my case.

Thankfully, Emmett decided he wanted to grab some snacks before the movie and we made our way to the concession stand. Once we got there, I wished I would have stayed in the car. Jacob and Quil were standing at the counter waiting on nachos. Quil spotted me first and he nudged Jake and pointed in our direction. I shot Quil the filthiest look I could muster. I had thought we were buddies, but here he was, throwing fuel into the fire. _Ass_.

Jake's eyes met mine. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me too long Bells."

I scoffed and glanced up at Emmett who gave me a questioning look. "He's kidding. He's just being a douche."

Emmett plastered his trademark smile on his face and grabbed my hand again. "Well, in that case, let's get some grub."

The best thing about Emmett was his ability to never let anything piss him off or make him uncomfortable. He stepped up to the counter beside Jake who didn't seem to intimidate him. He ordered what he wanted, asked what I wanted, and nodded his head as we left to the two Quileute guys who seemed dead-set on messing up my date.

_Not gonna happen today fellas._ I smugly waved at them as we walked out. _Asses_.

As we snacked on popcorn and candy and watched the opening scenes of _Grown Ups _in the front seats of the Jeep, I couldn't help but steal glances down the row of cars in search for my La Push friends. I tried to convince myself it was for no one specific, but who was I kidding? I actually witnessed tall, dark-skinned, chesty girls approach Jake, as he and a few of the guys were spread out on the cab of Embry's truck, and I felt my temperature rise just a few degrees. _Whatever, he can talk to who he wants._ I was such a hypocrite.

The movie was funny, or at least the parts I could focus on. I was starting to wonder if people came to watch the movie or just hook up with hot La Push guys. I'd have to go with the latter if I was judging the majority of girls walking around here. _Sluts_.

_Geez, what was up with the name calling tonight? I chalk it up to PMS._

During the twenty minute intermission, I made my way to the restrooms which were surprisingly cleaner than I thought they'd be. There was a massive line, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Upon exiting the bathroom, I noticed the commercials for the next movie had started and in my haste to get back to the Jeep, I crashed into a rock-hard chest and fell back onto the gravel. My hands and my butt caught the brunt of the fall, but my ego took the biggest hit. Without even looking up, I began apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't even paying attention," I mumbled as I tried to pick the rocks off the heel of my hands. _Damn, that hurts._

"Are you alright? I didn't mean to knock you down." My collision buddy said as he crouched down beside me. "Bella?"

I looked up and realized why his voice sounded so familiar. Edward's concerned green eyes were staring down at me. _How do I always run into him? This time, literally._

"I-I'm fine. I'm just clumsy. Clumsy and oblivious to your surroundings apparently do not mix." I tried to laugh it off, but my chuckles caught in my throat when Edward grabbed me around my waist and hoisted me back up to my feet. I, then, muttered a small "Thanks."

We stood there for a few seconds, neither of us sure what to say next. After our last encounter, I kind of assumed he would do his best to avoid me. _I guess it's kind of hard to do that when I run into you._ I glanced up at his face which looked pained, like it hurt him to just stand here in my presence. That made me feel just great.

"Are you here with anyone?" I decided to ask.

"Yeah, just a few friends." His eyes were cast down towards the ground. "Did you enjoy the first movie?"

"Yeah it was hilarious. Sandler's one of my faves." I tried to sound upbeat, maybe get him to smile a little bit, but it was to no avail.

He just nodded and his gaze only landed on my face once or twice. I didn't know what to do so I just told him I'd see him around and made my way towards the Jeep.

"Feel better?" Emmett asked.

"In some ways," I replied back cryptically.

He raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"I hurt my hands." I held my palms up to show him my battle wounds.

He inspected them and said, "Here, I'll make them feel better." He took both my wrists into his giant hands, palms up, and kissed them lightly where the rocks had scraped them. Emmett looked up and when we made eye contact, we both burst out laughing.

"That was so corny," I said while still giggling.

"Hey, it was worth a shot," he laughed.

As we got into the second movie, I kept getting distracted by the slight movements Emmett would make. For some reason, after the hand kissing incident, my nerves were on edge. I had this sinking feeling this date would go further than just a goodnight hug, and now all my insecurities were flying around in my brain like bats.

At first, he would just shift in his seat a little. He eventually angled his body towards me, but his eyes were still looking at the movie screen. After a few more minutes, he lightly grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it this time. His eyes met mine when his lips touched my skin. _Oh gosh, he's making a move._

I gave him a slight smile so he would know I didn't think he was a complete idiot. Or so he wouldn't think I was one, for that matter. Taking advantage of the fact that he had my hand, Emmett lightly tugged me over to him. I leaned the top half of my body towards him and he gave me a smile, one I had yet to see. It was kind of like a seductive, sexy smile. He worked it well, but something was off.

When my closeness sufficed him, he released my hand and moved his behind my neck. His other hand found purchase on my left thigh. I pushed all thoughts of insecurity and doubt to the back of my mind and persevered though. I was about to have my first kiss with Emmett McCarty. Our lips touched lightly at first. It was nice. His lips were pretty good and he seemed to know what he was doing. As we kept kissing, the kisses kind of stayed the same. Soft and innocent. I didn't really feel the need or _want _to do anything more.

When the kissing ceased, he rested his forehead against mine, his blue eyes boring into mine.

"Am I a bad kisser?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. My curiosity was getting the better of me. But thankfully, my outburst seemed to lighten the mood dramatically.

Emmett threw his head back and laughed so loud I actually jumped. "What? No! Why would you say that?"

Cue the blushing. "I-I don't know. I just don't kiss, you know, a lot of people. I didn't know if that was the reason...we just...you know..." I really didn't want to finish that sentence.

"The reason what? We stopped kissing?"

I nodded.

His voice was now calm, like he was having to assure a five-year-old. "Hey, hey, look at me." He lifted my chin. "Tell me the truth. Do you want to kiss me more than that?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I felt your hesitation, but you have to let me know, Bella. I can't read your mind." Emmett gave me a small smile to reassure me.

"You're a great kisser, Emmett, it just felt weird. Not physically, just in my head. Like I shouldn't be doing it. Kind of like kissing..."

"Your brother?" he asked.

"Well...yeah." I didn't want to say it because I felt like I was hurting his feelings. I also knew I was turning beet red. Hopefully the darkness in the Jeep was somewhat covering it.

"I felt the same way."

My head shot up and I gave him a bewildered look. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, but you were doing so good I wasn't gonna complain. What guy complains about a hot girl making out with him? Not me!" His huge smile was now back in place.

I punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up, this is serious."

"Aww, Belly, no it's not. This is a good thing. Now we don't eventually have to go through the nasty break-up stage. We can go into being friends and it won't feel as weird, right?"

I thought about what he said. _Are jocks supposed to be this smart?_ "I guess you're right." I said.

"Of course I am. C'mere." He pulled me over the seat so he could give me a big, bear hug. I couldn't help but laugh and hug him back just as much.

On the ride back home, the tension in the air had completely disappeared. We both sang along to _The Plain White T's_ and it felt good. I was free from the dating rules now. I could be myself and not have to be nervous or awkward. Emmett was simply my _friend_.

He walked me to the door of my house again like a perfect gentleman and I clasped his hand thankful for how the night had turned out. When we reached the porch, I gave him another hug.

"Thanks for tonight. I had fun."

"Me too. Be sure to put something on your hands so they don't get infected," he reminded me. I looked down at the wounds on my palms. They still sort of stung. "You never told me how you did that."

"Oh, I ran into Edward, literally, and landed flat on my butt without even fazing him. The rocks weren't so nice," I scoffed.

He chuckled. "Speaking of Edward..." He gave me a pointed look.

"What?"

"I _think_ you know that he has a little crush on you, so I'll go ahead and let you know I'm okay with it. If you like him, I give you my approval. He's a great guy. Don't let the fact that he and I are friends effect any decision you make about him, okay?"

That was totally unexpected. "Ohhh-kayyyy..."

Just as I was saying that, a truck pulled in swiftly next door and I heard hoots and hollers coming from the vehicle. Some of the boys must be home. I rolled my eyes.

"Have a good night, babe. Text me." He winked and made his way down the steps. At the bottom, he stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He trotted back up the steps, grabbed me around the waist and neck, said "One for the road," dipped me, and kissed me. It was like that scene from The Mask when Jim Carrey kisses Cameron Diaz at the end of their big musical number in the nightclub. My eyes probably looked just like hers too. Wide-open and confused.

As he lifted me back up and detached himself from me, I said, "_What_ was that about?"

"Just something to remember me by," he quipped with that Cheshire cat grin across his face. I watched his back retreat to his Jeep and I just stood there staring. _Why can't I be attracted to him? He's such a great guy._

I chanced a glance over at Jake's front yard, and there he was, shooting daggers from his eyes at Emmett. Then at me when he realized I was looking. I gave him a self-satisfied smile and an arrogant wave just to piss him off as I walked in my front door. I leaned my head back against the closed door and replayed the night in my mind.

"You okay, Bells?" I opened my eyes to find Charlie coming out of the kitchen, probably making his way back to the TV in the living room.

Before I answered him, I just looked at him. His face had more color to it than when I first came, his smile was bigger, and he radiated an aura of happiness. That was how he had become since I told him I wanted to stay. That thought had made my heart swell. Even though it would have made my dad happier if I were to stay, he still had never mentioned it once. He wanted me to make my own choices and not push anything on me, putting aside his own feelings in the matter. Maybe that's what makes a real parent. Selflessness. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mom, but she had always been more of a friend. I had always sacrificed my happiness for hers, not the other way around like it should have been. I guess I inherited that from Charlie.

"Yeah, I'm great dad. Thanks," I said smiling.

"Good. Just making sure." He turned and walked towards his favorite chair.

When Charlie sat down in his recliner, I realized I now looked at him in a whole new light. I walked over to him and leaned down to hug him. He seemed surprised at first, but eventually gave in and hugged me back.

**Whew! What a roller coaster ride, right? Well, one guy is romantically out of the picture so we're making progress. Where do we go from here? What do u want to see next chapter? Give me a quote or challenge to make it interesting. Drop me a line, good or bad, i'll take either. I know somebody has SOMETHING to say. I appreciate you sticking with me thus far. I'll try my hardest to update sooner next time. Your reviews will keep me writing, especially if they involve ideas on where to go next. Oh by the way, who spotted the Jacob quote from the actual book? Bye!**


	14. Chapter 14 A Pile of New Experiences

**Holy crap! It's been so long since I've updated. I'm completely ashamed of myself and you have every right to be mad, but I do have good excuses. I landed a new job where I don't have as much free time to write my fanfic anymore and I've only had Sunday's off for the past month or so. I'm completely beat, BUT I was determined to post this chapter and you'll definitely enjoy it. I guarantee it ) Thanks to those who gave me challenges, hopefully you can spot them. It was fun writing them in. Plus a big thanks to Jennifer who listens to my ramblings, lets me throw ideas off of her, and who has a knack for spotting my stupid past tense blunders. I know you've all been waiting so I won't keep you any longer...see you at the end :)**

Chapter 14-A Pile of New Experiences

The few weeks before school started were hectic to say the least. Since I had decided to stay in La Push so late in the summer, we were pushing for time constantly. Mom had packed up loads of boxes with my clothes from Phoenix and sent them to me right away. Although I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like Phoenix attire would suffice in a town that had constant drizzle and no sun ten months out of the year.

After saving up all summer at the ice cream stand and the garage, I thankfully didn't have to rely on Charlie to pay for any essentials I needed. So when Angela, Leah, and I had a free day to hang out together we did some last minute school shopping, mostly for my benefit. They had done theirs weeks ago.

Getting registered at La Push High was interesting to say the least. Apparently, word got around that Chief Swan's daughter was enrolling and I was bombarded with waves and handshakes for most of the tour around the school. The campus was on the small side compared to my old high school, but it had a comfortable feel about it.

Since the school had already sent out class schedules, I was handed mine on the spot. I regretted not asking any of my friends what classes they had gotten, yet I probably got stuck with leftover classes anyway.

Since the weather was turning cooler and school was starting back, the ice cream stand needed me less and less. I finally gave them my notice and figured working in the garage would suffice while I was in school.

The night before the first day of school, Jacob and I were doing some last minute repairs to Leah's Ford Escort so she could drive it the next day. We worked in silence mostly, talking only when tools were needed or questions were asked. This had become our normal, comfortable routine as I had gotten better and better at my job. At that moment, I was thankful, considering I had a lot on my mind concerning school tomorrow.

Ever since the drive-in, I had been expecting to hear crap from Jacob about the theatrical goodnight kiss that happened right in front of his face. But, he had surprised me by keeping all his thoughts to himself. Until now, that is.

"So how's McCarty doing?" he decided to slip in.

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess." Truth was, I had barely spoken to him as of late.

"Got another date lined up yet?" He was sounding too nonchalant.

"Nope."

"Still no butterflies?" I rolled my eyes at his question. I hadn't told him that Emmett and I had decided to be just friends. It was much more fun this way.

"I'll probably have to be completely focused on school this semester by the looks of my schedule, so dating really isn't on my priority list," I said, dodging his question.

"Same here."

Apparently, he had gotten what he needed to know out of that conversation, so I finished attaching the wiper blades and walked over to the sink to wash my hands. Jake followed and decided to splash soap-suds in my hair.

"What was that about?" I yelled as he attempted to splash water at my face.

"I can tell you needed cheering up," he said smiling, but he was actually right. I hadn't even mentioned that anything was bothering me though.

"I'm fine," I lied.

From the look on his face, I could tell he didn't buy it. Yet he didn't push. He continued his playful ways. "Well, I guess I was looking for an excuse to get you wet then." He bounced his eyebrows suggestively and I suddenly felt hot all over.

"Yeah, like that could happen," I scoffed.

He leaned against the sink and brought his face close to mine. "Are we going to stand here and talk dirty to each other or are you going to tell me what's wrong? I can do either one." I saw a faint hint of a smile on his lips because he knew he had me. "Dirty mode or best friend mode?"

"I'd prefer best friend," I mumbled.

"Well, it's questionable what you'd prefer, but best friend it is," he said as he winked at me.

I could feel myself begin to blush, so I turned my head away from him and muttered, "I'm just nervous about school tomorrow."

"Anything specific?" he asked.

"Just being at a new school in general makes me want to puke. I'm the "new girl" and people will be watching me and judging me. I don't like that kind of pressure." Before I knew it, tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to blink them away.

"Aww, Bells." He pulled me into a hug and I took comfort in laying my head against his chest and wrapping my arms around his waist. The familiar smell of his sweat and grease soothed my worries for the moment at least. "You'll be fine. You have all of us who will make sure you have the best first day ever. Besides, nobody will mess with you as long as you have Leah around." He started laughing and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. It was true; Leah was quite intimidating when she wanted to be.

We stood there for a few more minutes just in comfortable silence. I listened to his steady heartbeat while he ran his fingers over the tendrils of hair that were hanging out of my messy bun. Something about this felt so right, so comfortable. Yet, there was a nagging at the back of my mind. Like there was also something wrong and forbidden about this. But what was it?

"Bells?" _Oh yeah…our fathers._ "Bells, you in there?" We heard Charlie calling from outside the garage and Jacob and I quickly pulled away from each other.

"Come on in, Dad!" I yelled a little flustered.

He peeked his head in the door and smiled. "Just letting you know it's almost ten. You probably want to get to bed early so you'll be fresh as a daisy for your first day of school tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure. We're just finishing up."

"'Night, Jake." Charlie said as he left.

"'Night, Chief."

I looked up at Jake. I was sure we were thinking the same thing. It was pretty bad we couldn't even share a friendly hug without being scared of getting caught. Suddenly, I realized why it felt so forbidden. Because I'd hate to see the day that Billy Black and Charlie Swan thought their children were more than friends. We were _supposed_ to be like family…not kissing cousins, so to speak. They'd probably be worried it would ruin their friendship by having to take sides if something were to go wrong between Jake and me. And to be honest, I wouldn't want to be responsible for ruining a friendship that was 40 years in the making.

Jake speaking shook me out of my reverie. "You want to go down to the beach?" he asked.

I gave him a questioning look. "Didn't you just hear Charlie say that I needed to go in?"

He gave a half smile. "Yeah, but…he doesn't have to know."

So, needless to say, over the next thirty minutes, I went through my nightly routine of getting ready for bed and listened for Charlie's snores from his room. Once I safely heard him sawing wood, I waited by my window and watched for Jake.

I watched as his huge body squeezed through his window frame. I noticed he had something tucked under his arm as he took the five necessary steps to get to my window. I raised the glass and he quietly lifted me out as I placed my hands on his shoulders. I felt his muscles flex beneath my fingers and tried to push it from my mind. Upon closer inspection, I saw the object tucked under his arm looked like a blanket.

We didn't speak as we made our way to the edge of the trees behind our houses to find the mouth of the trail that led to the beach. I stumbled on a few loose rocks but Jacob caught me before I could face plant. From that point on, he held my hand so I wouldn't cause injury to myself or him for that matter. It would soil our plan if Charlie woke up the next morning and found me with a busted lip.

The quiet didn't bother me because I enjoyed listening as the ocean got nearer and nearer. Jacob's silence made me think he was listening too. When we cleared the trees and finally saw the water, the breeze hit me like a brick wall. I staggered backward and Jacob's hand clenched around mine to keep me upright and I swore I heard him chuckle.

"The wind's a little strong this time of night," he explained.

"No kidding."

We walked a short distance before he stopped and fought the blanket to the ground. He also had brought a pillow that he laid on top of the blanket.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to get another pillow, so I just grabbed the one off my bed."

"It's no problem," I assured him.

He sat down on the blanket and motioned for me to do the same. We both sat with our knees bent in front of us and our arms wrapped around them staring at the water. The moon's light bounced off the waves making it look like a sea of sapphires. It was gorgeous.

"I usually come here alone," Jake said, breaking the silence.

"Well, you didn't have to invite me if you wanted to be by yourself." I felt like I had taken this time away from him by being here. Although, _he_ had asked me to come.

He looked at me wide-eyed. "No, that's not what I meant. It's just…I usually come here to think or…talk to mom."

I was speechless. I felt my throat tighten and I reached over to hold his hand.

He continued. "It's nothing to be sad about, Bells. I like to update her on how things are going. Even though I think she's watching over me, I like to tell her myself. I feel closer to her somehow. I wanted you to come with me because I know you love her too."

I couldn't even tell you how long we sat there and talked to Sarah. Jacob told her about the garage, me moving here for good, and how he fixed up Billy's old truck for me. I recollected my favorite times I spent with her and thanked her for treating me like a daughter all those years. By the end of it, instead of crying, we were laughing. That's what Sarah did to you. She made you laugh when you thought tears were your only outlet.

Jacob and I lay on our backs sharing his one pillow while he taught me the constellations of stars his tribe looked for on clear nights like this. He wasn't very good at it. He claimed to have seen a beaver which meant a prostitute would run naked through the streets. Then he saw an eel which was supposed to mean someone would get struck by lightning. By the end of it, I was convinced he was making stuff up. Yet I was laughing so hard, I thought I'd pee on myself.

When our laughter died down, I saw Jacob turn his head to look at me. I debated on whether to look at him too, yet our faces would have been entirely too close.

"I haven't had this much fun with someone in a while," he said quietly in my ear. I felt his warm breath wash across my cheek and I fought to hold back the shiver that ran through me.

I laughed humorlessly. "I've never had this much fun with someone probably _ever_. Is that sad?" I was still looking up at the stars so I didn't see his reaction.

"If it's any consolation, I've never had this much fun with a _female_. I've only ever laughed this hard with the guys. But this is…different."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

Apparently, he became tired of my lack of eye contact, so he turned on his side towards me and propped his head onto his hand. He was now hovering next to me and my heartbeat picked up its pace. I only had to turn my head minutely to gaze into the brown depths of his eyes. They were soft and questioning, like they wanted to know my every secret.

Truth was, right then, I didn't even know my own secrets. All I knew was that there was some _bond _that I felt with Jacob. It felt right and wrong at the same time. It felt new and foreign. It felt forbidden, which made me want it more. These things must have been written all over my face.

"What are you thinking?" he asked. _Ahh, the dreaded question we all hate._

I wanted so bad to be honest with him. He deserved that much. I took a deep breath and searched his face for my answer, but found none. "Have you ever had the feeling when your heart won't tell your mind to tell your mouth what it should say?"

"Kind of like you don't know what you're feeling, but you know it's something?" he asked.

"Exactly." I locked my eyes with his.

"Bella…," he breathed.

"Yeah?"

"We shouldn't do this," he whispered.

"I know." My hand drifted up to rest on his chest and I turned on my side to face him as well.

"Charlie and Billy would kill us." His hand gripped my hip and pulled me against him.

"Probably." I trailed my fingers down his abs.

"What do we do?" he asked as he leaned down and ran his nose along my jaw.

"Nobody has to know but us." I didn't directly answer his question, but I was sure he could hear the meaning behind it.

"I don't want to ruin what we have."

His words ran through my mind and they scared me. There was no promise that we'd ever be the same. But at that moment, I wanted anything he could give me. The pent up sexual tension that had been building since our night in the bathroom was finally coming to a head and I was about to explode.

"It's just us. We can pretend it never happened, if you want," I said. His hand was running along my spine and under the edge of my shirt. I was shaking from the torment he was putting me through.

"Do you want me to touch you?" he asked.

"Only if you want to." _Please want to. Please want to._

He slowly lowered his face to my neck and I threw my head back to allow him room. His hands slid under my shirt and raked up my sides. His hands felt like hot irons setting off every last nerve ending I had. But the irons were suddenly ripped off of me way too soon. I opened my eyes and looked at his stricken face, which was still only inches from mine.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that," he said through heavy breaths.

"It's okay," I assured him. "Just do what you feel."

He laughed. "You definitely don't want me to do what I feel, Bells."

I smiled. "Maybe I do."

"You don't know what you're saying. I don't want you to regret this tomorrow." It was almost like he was begging me. He wasn't looking me in the eyes now and somehow I thought he believed what he was saying.

"What makes you think that I will?"

"We see each other every day. How can we do things like this and it not impact our relationship, Bells? Especially when it can't turn into anything serious."

"Jake." I lifted his chin to make him look me in the eye. "I know this is an unusual situation, but we're best friends first. If I thought this would ruin our friendship, I would leave right now. But I know you'll always be there for me no matter what. Whether we make out or not." I tried to make him smile and it worked a little bit. "Besides, who better to teach me than my best friend, right?"

"Teach you?" he asked.

"I told you I have very minimal experience with this kind of thing."

I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously. "I-um...I don't really...um, know what...I mean, I know the mechanisms, but not from personal experience."

It took me a second to register his uncomfortable mood. And I was dumbfounded. This huge, delicious man in front of me was probably just as inexperienced as I was. Well, that made me feel a little better. I was relieved I didn't have to live up to previous girls, but it also confused me. He was the epitome of a perfect looking man. What woman would turn this down?

"How? I mean, _how_ is that possible?" I stammered.

His eyebrows creased in sincere confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I saw how girls flock to you. They'd pretty much throw their panties at you if they could."

Jake threw his head back and laughed. "But how many of those panties would I want to catch? Hmm, probably none." He continued to smile. "Except maybe yours." He said in his low voice.

I was so startled by his admission that I only made a small sound in the back of my throat.

We were quiet for a few minutes and just looked at each other. Most likely, we were thinking along the same lines.

"I'm getting tired of holding back, Bells. It's like there's some kind of magnet between us. It hurts sometimes not to touch you."

"Then touch me." It slipped out of my mouth before I knew it. But I knew I meant it.

Again, his hand slid under my shirt and traced my spine. I let my shivers surface and I placed my hand on his shoulder as his hand roamed over my side and over my stomach. He reached my belly piercing and stopped. He pulled back slightly to put space between us so he could look down at it. Jake let out a growl that sent a ripple of energy through me. Before I had time to register his movements, he had my back to the ground and he was hovering directly over me, putting all of his weight onto his thick arms.

I opened my legs slightly so he could comfortably press his body onto mine as he descended closer to my face.

"You are so sexy," he growled.

I bit down on my lip to hide the smile that threatened to appear. Jake groaned, leaned down, and slowly...so slowly...placed his perfect teeth on my bottom lip and pulled it from my grasp. He then grazed his tongue across it earning a moan from me.

"I can't tell you how bad I've wanted to hear that again," he whispered and his lips attacked mine.

I threw my hands into his hair and massaged his scalp as his tongue massaged mine. He tasted just how I remembered. Natural and sweet. He didn't need mints or candy to taste good, he just did. He tasted like Jacob. There's no other way to describe it. It was just Jacob.

I got lost again in the haze he exuberated around me. The ocean had no sound, the wind died down, and the entire world revolved around Jake and Bells for the second time.

Almost right away I could feel his hardness through his thin cutoffs. My legs (of their own accord, of course) wrapped around his torso and his hands gripped my hips almost painfully. Almost. It was then I realized I wanted him to touch _all _of me. If not now, then eventually. He could own my whole body if he wanted to.

I felt a tug on the hem of my shirt and I lifted my arms to allow him to take my shirt off. He threw it roughly to the side and stared at my chest hungrily.

My chest was heaving and my breasts were erotically overflowing from my bra. Under normal circumstances, I would have blushed or something equally embarrassing, but I was confident in that moment and I let him take in the sight of me. I heard a low growl come from the back of his throat. My panties were instantly soaked.

"What is it Jake?" I asked in what I hoped was a sexy voice.

"I want to make you mine, Bella," he growled as he pulled me forward and traced his teeth along my shoulder.

Those seven words woke me out of my stupor. _I _couldn't_ be his. I could never be his. How was this right?_

"Jake, we need to stop," I said pushing him away as he began to nip on my neck.

"What? Why?" He was still breathing harshly, but now he had a look of hurt on his face.

"It's not that I don't want to. It's just not fair to you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" _Uh oh. He was angry._ "We _both_ want this. Don't give me that crap, Bells."

I stayed quiet. I figured it was my best option. Jake huffed angrily and lifted himself away from me. I was cold without him. I wanted his warmth back, but it was my fault that I stopped it.

"It's what I said, isn't it?" he asked, still with a hint of anger behind it.

"I just don't want to hurt you."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

His fist went flying into the sand beside him, sending it spraying around us. "Damn it, Bella! I know I can't have you, but you don't have to keep shoving it in my face!" He turned and looked at me with tears in his eyes. His voice returned to its normal volume. "We both know this can't go further, but I thought we were doing what we wanted here and now. Not thinking about tomorrow. Just being us." Another pause. "I was just telling you the truth. I didn't expect anything in return."

Again, just a few simple words caused so much reaction in me. He sounded sad and defeated and I was the cause of that.

"This is just all new to me," I said, not meeting his eyes. I took up fidgeting with the blanket. "I know it's no excuse, but you're important to me and I don't want to play with your emotions."

He reached over and moved my chin so he was able to meet my eyes. "I know the restrictions, Bells. I just thought we were on the same page."

"Which is?"

"I don't know how to put a name on it. I just want us to be _us_. Nothing more."

I knew what he meant. We weren't just friends, we weren't boyfriend/girlfriend, we weren't even friends with benefits. It was so much more than that. We just both just had to accept that everything we wanted in the other wasn't possible in our situation. But we had to take what we could get, right?

"Kiss me," I breathed.

His eyes darkened and he grabbed my hair to pull me directly onto his awaiting lips. Since we were still sitting up, he easily lifted me onto his lap to face him. I didn't realize I was still shirtless until my bare stomach touched his t-shirt. That just wouldn't do, so I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and tugged until he allowed me to pull it over his head.

"You're wearing _way_ too many clothes," I said smiling.

Even though I had probably seen him shirtless on numerous occasions, I could never get enough of his flawless physique. Again, I ran my fingers over each sculpted ab and marveled at how his skin felt underneath my fingertips. I could feel him tense slightly beneath my touch and I knew the sensation was probably pushing him over the edge. But the need to feel his chest on mine was overwhelming so my ministrations ceased as I pressed myself up against him.

The feeling was indescribable. How do you describe the feeling of a cool breeze? Or how a warm blanket feels on a cold day? If I had to describe the feeling I felt in that moment, I'd say refreshing or relaxing, but that's completely selling it way too short. Jake's skin on me felt complete. Like I'd been waiting for it for so long and now that I had it, I couldn't let it go. Overdramatic? Possibly.

The moans that escaped us were carried away with the wind but I felt them vibrate through us. His lips descended to my chest and my core throbbed with want for him. His hand pulled down my left bra strap and I felt his teeth nibble my shoulder. I felt chills spread over my body and I ground myself onto his erection for some kind of feeling where I needed it the most.

Apparently, my brash movement awakened a beast in the otherwise gentle Jacob Black. I felt his hardness twitch, a low growl in his chest, and heard something tear. Not until I felt my bra loosen did I realize he ripped, yes, _ripped_ the back of my bra open. He pulled it off and threw it into the wind along with my long forgotten shirt. He pulled my hips flush with his and bent his head down to take one of my nipples into his mouth.

My strangled moan encouraged him to keep going. "More, please," I begged.

He grabbed my other breast with his free hand and pulled on my hardened peak as I felt his mouth bite down on the other. I'd probably have a wet spot by now.

I held his head and ran my fingers through his hair, pulling to let him know I was enjoying it. Way too soon Jake gripped his fingers into my lower back and pulled away from my breast with a resounding pop.

"You want more?" he asked in a rough voice.

"Please."

Before I knew it, my back was once again laying on the blanket. He was on his knees kneeling between my legs. He looked down at my loose shorts.

He ran his fingers down the front, towards the spot that was yearning for attention. "Is this where you want to be touched, Bella?"

I nodded my head and squirmed as I felt his fingers ghost over my tender flesh.

"Can I take these off?" He asked, referring to my shorts. I nodded and he smirked as he tugged them off and threw them to the side with the other discarded clothes.

I laid there in only my skimpy panties with Jake looking down on me and pitching a tent at the same time. From where I was sitting, it looked dangerously huge. I wondered if it really was.

"I want to see it," I said, biting my lip.

Luckily, Jake wasn't the shy type and he lowered his cut-offs and boxers only to show me the biggest penis probably known to man. I felt my eyes widen and I quickly looked away.

"What's wrong?" he said, concern etched across his face. He put the anaconda back in his pants.

"Jake…that's-that's _huge_," I said, trying to stay calm.

He laughed and it sounded like relief. "Sorry?" He said it like it was a question.

"No, it's just, I've never seen one. But I'm pretty sure they're smaller than that on average."

"Well, I wasn't going to hurt you with it, if that's what you're afraid of." He chuckled a little bit.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It just caught me by surprise." I scooted back closer to him and reached down between us and slowly dipped my hand under his waistband.

Even though I had no idea what I was doing, I wrapped my hand around the base of it. Jake's eyes closed as his head fell back and he groaned. Just going on pure instinct, I pumped it a few times and achieved what I was looking for. Jake's breathing picked up and he, too, bit his lip.

When he finally opened his eyes to look at me, they were hooded and swimming with lust. He bent down and attached his lips to my shoulder. I felt him sucking, almost painfully, but I didn't want him to stop.

"Babe, I'm really close. If you don't stop…" Jake whispered in my ear.

I decided to ignore his warning and a few seconds later, his low grunting and the feel of hot liquid on my stomach alerted me of his release.

I felt his body relax above me and he looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry," he said quietly.

I giggled. "Don't be. If anything, it was my fault."

"I'm not complaining." His voice had once again gone husky and his eyes raked across my body. "Now let's see what we can do for you."

"You don't have to," I said.

"Don't be silly."

He swiftly pushed my panties aside and his thumb found my clit. My back arched and I let out an embarrassing squeak. His movements continued until I begged him to give me more.

Painfully slow, he pushed one finger into me. He gently moved in and out, once attempting to push a second finger into me, but my inexperience wouldn't allow it.

Jake took his free hand and lifted my waist so that his angle changed and I swear I saw stars. He had found some magical button that made my toes curl and made me whimper in pleasure. I saw him smirk above me knowing that he was doing something right. I couldn't help but smile back.

At the same time, I felt a tightening in my stomach, something washed over me and I let out a scream that echoed over the water.

Jake pulled his finger out of me and I watched as he sucked the finger that was just in me as his eyes bored into mine. He lifted a corner of the blanket we were laying on and cleaned off my stomach.

When he lay down beside me I was still trying to catch my breath. "What…was…_that_?"

"That, my dear, was an orgasm. I'm assuming your first, since you didn't know what it was." He was smirking.

"Uh, yeah," I said laughing.

We gathered up all our clothes and got dressed. We cuddled for a little while longer until we both agreed it was time to get some much needed sleep.

Once we got back to my window, I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. "This sucks," I said into his shirt.

"What?"

"That we have to pretend now. I hate hiding stuff, it's just not me."

"I know, but it's for the best."

I nodded and he lifted my face to look at him. "Let me take you to school in the morning."

"Don't you have football or something afterwards?"

"Yeah, but you can watch, can't you?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "I guess."

"See you in the morning?" He asked.

"Alright, but this can't be weird tomorrow," I said motioning between us.

"Of course not. Best friends first, right?"

"Right."

He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. "Good night."

"Night." I turned to open my window and Jake gave me a lift so I wouldn't hurt myself climbing in. I shut the window and watched after him as he climbed into his as well.

Tomorrow would be a long day.

Getting ready for school the next morning almost seemed impossible. I woke up ten minutes later than I had planned. I couldn't find the top I had planned to originally wear. I had forgotten the day before that I had ran out of body wash, so I was forced to use Charlie's generic bar that smelled of a "spring breeze" apparently. I cut my ankle while shaving my legs and while looking in the mirror I discovered the nice present Jake decided to leave on my shoulder.

Needless to say, by the time I climbed into the Rabbit, I was fuming. Jake seemed excited. Of course he would be; he was the big man on campus from what I heard. This thought made me a tad bit nervous because I realized people would see I was riding with him and probably make different assumptions. I thought I might have a panic attack on the way to school.

"Something wrong?" he finally asked after being given the silent treatment for the first five minutes I was in the car.

"No, just had a bad morning." I continued to look out my window. I had began wringing my hands and bouncing my knee.

"Everything will be fine, Bells. You have all of us to hang out with once we get there." He laid his hand on my knee and rubbed circles trying to sooth me.

As we arrived at the school, I scanned the parking lot for anyone familiar. Luckily, I spotted Angela who was still sitting in her car. I pointed her out to Jake and asked him to park beside her. She looked relieved when she saw us. As we parked, I noticed Leah making her way towards us also.

Angela and I exited the cars and we both mirrored the same looks of panic. New school. New friends. New everything.

"Let's get this over with," I murmured as we headed in to our first day at La Push High.

Homeroom was probably the worst part of the day, so thankfully it only lasted a half hour. We only had to meet there to get our schedules again and to fill out any necessary forms for the upcoming year. Homeroom was determined alphabetically, so I was surrounded by people whose last names began with 'S.' There were a few 'T's' but not many. One guy named Riley Stevens seemed nice enough, but it was time to leave before I could talk to him too much.

I had first period Computer Technology with Angela and Leah. The three of us sat near the back and Leah spent most of the class telling us who people were and if she liked them or not.

I had second period English with Jake, Leah, Quil, and the Riley guy from homeroom. Leah was able to take the seat on my left and Riley sat on my right. Jake and Quil walked in right before the bell rang. As they walked by me, Jake gave me a wink and they made their way to the back of the classroom where I noticed most of the girls glanced the duration of the class. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed the attention the back row was getting because Leah made her annoyance known about halfway through the class.

"If you people look behind you any more often, you'd get whiplash," she said loud enough for the whole class to hear.

"Aww, c'mon Lee. Don't be jealous," Quil teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Pfft. Not in a million years."

The rest of the class went by uneventful and Riley took any chance he could to make casual conversation. He was actually quite nice and I didn't mind talking to him whenever we were able to get a few words in. Also, I think Leah's statement somewhat lessened the looks toward the hunks at the back of the room, but it didn't completely stop them.

When class was over, I headed to my locker to drop off my books and Jake unexpectedly met me there.

"How's your day so far?" he asked as he leaned against the lockers next to mine.

"Pretty good."

"Are we okay?" He sounded concerned.

I was confused. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"

"You were acting weird this morning. I didn't know if you had some change of heart or if you were mad at me for some reason."

"Oh. No, I really did have a bad morning. On top of discovering the huge brand you left on my shoulder," he smiled, "I ran into a few obstacles I had to deal with."

He nodded in understanding. "So have you made friends with Stevens now or something?" he asked trying to sound casual.

I smiled to myself at his obvious jealousy. "He's a nice guy. I met him in homeroom."

Jake nodded and a smirk spread across his face. He reached over and moved the collar of my shirt aside uncovering the hickey I had just mentioned.

He lowered his voice so only he and I could hear. "Mmm, I just wanted to see it to remind myself that last night was real."

I knocked his hand aside, but I couldn't help but smile. "Shut up and thanks for that, too," I said sarcastically.

"Anytime." He winked and pushed himself off the lockers. "See you later."

Leah had told me to wait for her at my locker so we could find a seat at lunch together, so instead of going with Jake, I stayed where I was and watched his back retreat from me as he headed toward the cafeteria.

"Dream on, new girl."

I turned and there stood a short, black-haired girl a few feet away from me with her locker open.

"Excuse me?" I asked, shocked that someone who I had never seen in my life would just blurt something like that out.

She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "I said 'dream on.' Jacob Black might be the greatest catch at this school, but he flirts with just about everybody, so don't feel special. He doesn't even date."

This information wasn't a total shock, but it still sent a wave a jealousy through me, thinking about Jacob flirting with all those other girls. A small wave of anger hit me because who was this girl to tell me I should dream on? She barely knew me. Before I could say something I would regret, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was one up on this girl and any other girl that he may come into contact with. He had admitted to doing things with me last night that he had never done with anyone.

"Nice to know," was all I said. I turned and thankfully ran into Leah who led the way to the cafeteria.

The lunch room was a lot smaller than the one I was used to in Phoenix. Everyone was packed at small tables that were scattered haphazardly around the place. After picking up a sandwich and an apple, I followed Leah to the table that held all our friends.

I sat between Leah and Emily, which landed me across from Jake. I picked at my food while I listened to everyone talk about their first day so far. Quil and Embry had already almost landed detention, but had talked their way out of it. Most everyone had already been assigned homework, including myself.

"What's your next class, Bells?" Jake asked.

"Spanish, unfortunately."

"You don't like Spanish?" Leah asked.

"It's just hard," I answered.

"That's what _she_ said," Quil chimed in. The whole table erupted into laughter and I blushed. "I'm sorry, Bella. I couldn't resist," he apologized.

I found my way to my next class easily enough. I was one of the first ones there so I picked a seat near the back where I wouldn't be easily noticed by the teacher. Students started piling in right before the bell rang and Jacob and Quil were the last ones to show up. They hadn't even told me they had this class too.

Luckily, we only took a few notes and went over minor things so I wasn't made to pronounce anything embarrassing. Yet the syllabus stated that we had a major project due by the end of the semester that I was sure would take from now until then for me to finish since I was so bad at Spanish.

My final class of the day was U.S. History. The only person I knew in there was Embry. I recognized a few other people from my other classes but their names escaped me. Embry took the seat next to me and gave me a small smile. I returned it, unsure if he felt as awkward around me as I did around him. We hadn't really properly talked since our apparent "falling out" the night at the movie theater, so we still had some issues up in the air.

Our History teacher, Ms. King, passed out worksheets to complete with a partner if we so chose and Embry turned and gave me a pleading look.

"Want to work together?" he asked.

"Sure."

I couldn't just say 'no.' It would have been completely rude, plus I'm over what happened between us. No need to hold any grudges.

The rest of class seemed to fly by and I had a good time working with Embry. After a while, he seemed at ease and we effortlessly made jokes the entire time. Once it was time to get ready to leave, he decided to hit me with the unexpected.

"Listen, Bella, I've been meaning to talk to you," he started.

"Really? About what?"

"I know it was really shitty the way things happened between us and I want you to know it had nothing to do with you."

"Embry, are you giving me the "it's not you, it's me" speech because usually it's a lie," I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood our conversation had taken on.

He chuckled a little bit. "I'm just saying I know it was messed up and I was in a weird place so I hope that we can still be friends."

"Yeah, sure. I just don't want it to be weird between us."

"I know. Me either."

We packed up our books and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted between us. I watched Embry and once again saw what I had seen in him when I first arrived in La Push. He was handsome and sweet, but I don't know if I'd ever see him as a potential boyfriend again. We'd probably just be better off as friends.

I walked out of the classroom with Embry heading to my locker. "Glad your first day is finally over?" he asked.

"Yeah, but now I have to stay and watch football practice since Jake was my ride this morning," I explained.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm going that way too if you want me walk you," he offered.

"That'd be great. I have no idea where to go."

On my way out, Leah offered me a ride home but since I had already told Jacob I'd watch him practice, I insisted I'd be fine. I had homework to keep me occupied if I got too bored, which was very probable.

Embry showed me to the stands where I would be able to get a good view of the practice. As he was leaving to go the locker room, he yelled that he'd inform Jake I got out there safely. I laughed and pulled out my books ready to start on some of the homework I had already been assigned. But then a group of giggly girls made their way down the bleachers by me and gathered on the grass next to the field.

After a few minutes, I realized they were probably the cheerleaders. There were only five of them so I assumed more were probably coming. I tried to ignore their chants and yells as they started their cheers, but it was kind of hard when they screamed at random moments breaking my concentration.

After a while, the guys finally came onto the field with their gear on and I had to stop myself from drooling on my English book. Jacob had those tight pants on and his gear made him look even bigger than usual. It was a turn on to see him so aggressive and to watch the muscles in his legs flex as he ran. Needless to say, I was entertained the entire practice and needed a cold shower by the end of it.

I waited by Jacob's car so he didn't have to come get me out of the stands. I had barely finished any homework so tonight would be a long one. Jake came strutting through the parking lot a few minutes later and he smiled when he caught sight of me.

"So eager to get me home?" he said, smirking.

"You wish. Now unlock my door."

We climbed into the Rabbit and Jake's grin was still in place. "I don't have to wish, baby. I can see it in your eyes," he joked. I threw my head back and laughed as we exited the parking lot.

"So what's the verdict on your first day of school?" he asked as we neared home.

"Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. I know at least one person in each of my classes."

"Are you happy that I'm in two of them?"

"I guess."

He laughed. "What do you mean you guess?"

"It's not like it makes any difference."

His brows furrowed. "How so?"

I regretted even saying anything because now he looked upset. "I mean…well, we don't really talk or anything."

"We talked at lunch," he defended.

"Yeah, a little. But not in our classes."

Jake huffed. "Well it would look a little suspicious if I followed you around like a puppy dog."

"I didn't tell you to," I said defensively. "I was just being honest. God forbid you ruin your image as the flirty man on campus."

"What the hell is that about?" We were both full-on shouting by this point.

"Oh, I don't know. Just the fact that some chick saw me talking to you at my locker and when you walk off she informs me of how I should quote "dream on" and that you flirt with everybody. Not exactly something I want to hear my first day."

"Okay, well if we're playing that game then how about I don't appreciate having to sit back and watch you and _Riley_ act all buddy-buddy in English class."

"Why not? It's okay for you to hit on anything that moves, but I'm not allowed to talk to _one_ guy?"

"It's not like that!" he yelled as we pulled into his driveway.

"I just didn't like her making me feel like I'm the _only_ one who doesn't know you." I said this as calmly as I could muster. I reached for the door handle and climbed out of the car. I made my way to the garage where I had parked my truck the day before and I heard him slam the driver's side door behind me.

"Bells!" he called.

I just kept walking. I swung the garage door open and threw my backpack onto the bed of my truck. He stormed into the garage as I was climbing into the cab of my truck. I planned on leaving, not sure where I was going, but I was leaving nonetheless.

"Bells, stop!" He grabbed my door before I could shut it. "Listen to me." I gave him an expectant look. "You're probably the only one that _does_ know me. I have a reputation, you have to understand that. But you also have to understand that you can't let every little comment about me send you over the edge."

"I guess I just wasn't prepared for someone to say something like that to me just because I'm hanging out with _Jacob Black_." I emphasized his name like you would a celebrity's.

"But at least you know that Jacob Black would pick you over every girl in that school any day."

He leaned into the cab and pushed my hair off of my shoulder. He bent his neck down and lightly kissed my neck.

"Mmm, Jake. Don't start." It felt good and I know I was stupid to tell him to stop, but I was also still a little heated from our fight.

He nibbled his way up to my ear. "Start what? This?" He ran his hand up my thigh and squeezed it.

"No, this." I reached my hand into his hair and pulled his face to mine. We both took a deep breath as our lips collided.

He moaned. "I've been thinking about kissing you all day. Every time I saw you I thought about last night."

"Me too. And I couldn't take my eyes off you during your whole practice," I breathed.

Jake hovered over me and pushed me until I was lying down across the cab of my truck. My legs instinctually opened for him and wrapped around his waist.

"I'm sorry I got mad at you," I panted.

"No, baby, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

I answered that by running my tongue across his bottom lip. His answering moan assured me he got the message.

**Gosh...I could have kept going and going BUT it was already 19 pages so I figured it was time to wrap it up. I wanna thank everyone who puts me on alerts and those who continue to check in to the story, we loooooove new readers :) Maybe by the end of this we'll have some new Team Jacob members lol. Thanks again for challenges that were so awesome I couldn't wait to write them in and I encourage ANYONE who has an idea for this story to let me know. I try to please everyone, although I can't, but I do my best :) Ideas, challenges, and reviews help me write faster. Hopefully, I'll have the next one out sooner...fingers crossed...so until then...**


	15. Chapter 15 PreBirthday Blues

**Good gracious! I don't even want to know how long it's been since I've updated :( BUT, here I am with another chapter. Work has been killer and I spend most of my time catching up with things, never any time for hobbies...it sucks, I know. The good news is, the girl on maternity leave should be back next month, which means more free time for me :) Thanks to my beta _jenniper_ who is always willing to help and who is very patient with my stupid errors lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoy what I've cooked up. Let the drama begin...**

Chapter 15

Over the next few weeks I settled into the comfortable routine of going to school in the morning, working in the garage most afternoons, and doing my school work at night after dinner with Charlie. My weekends were mostly spent hanging out with my friends or just hanging around the house or the garage.

Since our fight after the first day of school, Jacob and my relationship seemed to be a little more strained. It was as if we were trying too hard to make everything better. Our hugs seemed stiff and the few kisses we did exchange were nothing compared to what we had shared before. It broke my heart because it seemed as if our relationship, or whatever it was, had ended before it even began.

On my part, the distance I felt with Jacob still resulted from what I witnessed every day at school. I watched as girls continued to ogle him and try to catch his eye in attempts that seemed to get more and more desperate each day. He did nothing to stop these occurrences either. He'd give them his billion-watt smile or he'd wink as they walked by. I was actually beginning to regret the day I convinced myself messing around with Jacob Black was okay.

I was sure he saw the looks I gave him when I caught him flirting with them. _He_ didn't call it flirting, but let's call a spade a spade. The jackass was flirting. And I was helplessly standing by and having to watch the shit unfold right in front of my face. No, I wouldn't mention my irritation to him; I just carried on with our regular day-to-day and hoped, in time, things would change. Fat freakin' chance.

In most everything he did when we were alone, it seemed as if he were _attempting_ to apologize, but light kisses on the shoulder and small smiles weren't enough to appease the fact that he ignored the situation at school and between us completely. By the weekend before my birthday, I was at my wits end.

Even though I objected the idea of a big birthday party, my friends still insisted we all go out for dinner in Port Angeles. Much to Jake's disappointment, Leah had invited Riley and he wholeheartedly accepted the invitation. I didn't mind because as of late, Riley had become a great person to talk to at school. He was fun, witty, and we had a lot in common. But something seemed missing.

Since my dad had to work the Saturday we were having my birthday dinner in Port Angeles, he left a present outside of my bedroom door that I found once I woke up. It was small, silver digital camera that I had to take out of the box as soon as I realized what it was. I actually called Charlie at work to express my gratitude at the awesome birthday gift that would definitely come in handy that night.

Around lunch time, I decided to go grocery shopping and get stuff to make Charlie dinner since I wouldn't be there. As I pulled up at McCarty's Grocery, I got nervous as I realized I might see Emmett for the first time since we decided to go our separate ways. I hoped it wouldn't be awkward.

Upon entering the store, I spotted Jasper with his back to me, but no one else familiar in sight. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. I made my way up and down the foreign aisles again, this time remembering where some things were. I decided on steak and potatoes for Charlie since it was easy to just put in the oven and leave cooking until he got home.

After loading more necessities for the house into my cart, I headed down the last aisle to get a gallon of milk. As I turned the corner, I saw Edward leaning over the yogurt, stacking it into neat piles. He looked up as my squeaky cart got closer. The usual grin he gave me once again resurfaced on his face. I had a feeling that Emmett had told him about our "break up," if that's what you want to call it.

"Hi, Bella," he said.

"Hey, Edward. Working hard?"

"Nah, just wasting time." He gestured to the perfect mountain of yogurt he had been stacking. "It's good to see you. How's school going?"

"Fine. And you?"

"Busy, but alright I guess."

_Ugh, I hate small talk._

I walked around him and picked up some milk and sat it in my cart. "Well, looks like I'm finished here. It was good to see you." I walked back passed him and felt the awkwardness settle in.

"Wait, Bella. I'll check you out…I mean, at the counter. I don't mean check _you _out per se…not that you're not worth checking out. I meant check your groceries out…I mean…"

_Oh, this was painful_. Edward dropped his head in defeat and ran his fingers through his unruly hair. I had to help him out.

"So, I'll meet you at the checkout counter then?" I said, smiling.

His eyes met mine and they looked grateful that I had overlooked his word vomit. "Please."

Edward was definitely fast with his hands as he was scanning my groceries and he was able to carry on a conversation as he was doing so as well. I was impressed until I realized I had bought some embarrassing feminine products that I would rather he didn't see, but there was no way to take them out of the cart now. I watched his progress and felt my face flush as his hand found purchase on my huge box of tampons. And to make matters worse, they slipped from his grip and fell to the floor. I could have died right there. Edward seemed to blush as well, but acted professional and continued the process of getting me the hell out of there.

"Bella Boo!" I turned as I was putting my change away and saw Emmett half-running towards me.

"Hey Emme.." was all I got out before he cut my air supply off with his huge arms. I looked over his shoulder and saw Rose and Alice following with smiles on their faces as they waved at me.

"What brings you around our neck of the woods?" he asked once he unwrapped his arms from around me.

"Well, a girl's gotta eat sometime, right?"

He smiled and nodded. "Big plans for this weekend?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Me and some of my La Push friends are heading to Port Angeles to some fancy restaurant for my birthday, but that's about it."

"What do you mean "that's it"? That's a pretty big deal. So is today your birthday?"

"No, Monday." I looked around to who answered, because it wasn't me. Edward was standing at the cash register sheepishly looking at us.

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Charlie."

I smiled. "He has such a big mouth."

"Well, I wish you would have told us earlier. Now we only have two days to buy you a present," Alice squealed as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Oh, no no no. Please don't. I hate for people to spend money on me," I begged.

"We can't just let your birthday go unnoticed," she argued.

"Why don't you guys just come to Port Angeles tonight with us then? It'll be a big group thing. That would be better than any present."

"I'm totally in!" Emmett agreed.

Alice seemed to think it over. "Okay, but I'll only agree to this no-gift clause just this once. What about it Rose?" She turned to Rosalie.

Rosalie shrugged. "I guess so."

Edward naturally jumped on the offer and I told them all the details of the restaurant and the time we would be meeting.

I was informed the restaurant we were going to, called _Bella Italia_, was fancy, so I needed to dress up for the night. Since it was supposed to be warm tonight, I pulled out a blue, fitted dress that touched right above my knees. Mom had bought it for me over a year ago and this would be the first time I ever wore it. I found a pair of low heels that wouldn't re-sprain my ankle and decided to let my hair hang in soft curls. It looked more elegant that way.

We had decided to leave around five o'clock since our reservations were for 6:30. It took a little over an hour to get there so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. At precisely ten minutes until five, someone knocked on my door. I opened it and was blessed with the sight of a tall, handsome Quileute in black slacks and a deep red button-down shirt. I may have felt drool hit my shoe.

I quickly reeled myself in, not wanting to stroke Jacob's ego more than it already was during the week at school. He stepped in and I took notice of how he eyed me. I turned and walked over to the couch to sit, feeling his eyes on my swaying hips the whole time. We might have been in the middle of some unspoken argument, but we couldn't deny our attraction to each other.

"Am I the first one here?" he asked.

"You know you are," I said rolling my eyes and plopping down on the couch.

"Good, I can give you your present in private then."

My eyes opened wide. "You better be joking."

"Does this look like a joke?" He reached his left hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a small, square emerald-colored box.

I opened my shaking hand and took it, dying to know what was inside. I gently opened the lid and caught sight of a white gold bracelet with two small charms attached to it. The small wolf caught my eye first because it held my birthstone in its mouth. The second charm was a tiny truck that resembled my own.

I felt my eyes began to fill with unshed tears and I did all I could to hold them back, but one escaped down my right cheek before I could stop it. Jake squatted in front of me and wiped my tear away with his thumb. He silently gestured for me to hand him the bracelet. Once he had it in his possession, he latched it around my left wrist.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," he said quietly. "It just seemed perfect for you and you can even add more charms."

I sniffed. "Thanks Jake, it's perfect."

"Just like you."

"I'm nowhere near it."

"Of course you are. You put up with me, don't you?" he joked.

"Barely."

Silence followed my admission and we just sat there face to face for a few minutes. I could feel his chest rising and falling against my knees and his breath on my cheek. I kept my eyes locked on the wolf charm, attempting to avoid his x-ray gaze.

"Why do I feel like there's a wall between us?" he suddenly asked.

I shrugged and laughed humorlessly. "Probably because there is."

"Can I ask why?"

"I just think we tried to take it too far. Everything was fine before and we screwed it up by letting our physical connection take over."

"Are you saying you regret it now?" he asked.

"No, of course not. It's just that things don't always turn out how we expect them to."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"I just…" I paused, thinking of all the times I'd watch him flirt with other girls. "I just think we didn't complement each other well. We want and expect different things out of each other."

"So are you saying I can't give you what you want?" He hoisted himself off of the floor and hovered above me.

I jumped up. "That's not what I'm saying at all! I think it's more along the lines of I can't give you what _you_ want." I said frantically.

"Is this about sex? Because I haven't even brought up the subject!"

"What? No!"

"I don't understand, Bells. Ever since we've started school, you've been acting distant and quiet like there's…" He paused like he was thinking something over. Something seemed to dawn on him. "Is there someone else?" The question sounded accusing and by the way his fists were balled up at his sides, I would have said he was fuming too.

"Are you serious? Who else would there be?"

"You and Stevens seem to be pretty close lately."

"Riley? You've got to be kidding me." I shook my head disbelievingly.

He shrugged. "There's something up and I want to know what."

"Fine, I'll tell you! It's the simple fact that you flirt with all these pathetic girls in school right in front of my face! Is that good enough for you?"

"I don't flirt with anybody!"

"Oh whatever. If I winked as much as you do, people would think I have a nervous twitch."

"Fine." He threw up his hands in defeat, but his face still held an angry grimace. "You want it that way, then that's how it'll be. We'll just be friends, but don't come crying to me when you change your mind."

"Don't worry. I won't."

A knock on the front door made me jump. I opened it with a shaky hand, now from the anger I had just dispelled on Jacob. Leah, Angela, Riley, and Sam stood on the porch and behind them I saw the rest of the group pulling into the driveway. Leah was giving me a questioning look, probably because my face was flushed and Jacob most likely resembled a rabid bulldog.

"Let's hit the road!" I said stepping out and putting on the fakest smile I had ever attempted.

Apparently God's sense of humor was in full force that night. On the way to the restaurant, somehow I ended up in between Jake and Riley in the back of Leah's car. Since the car was so small, it felt like we were piled on top of each other. Which led me to start thinking about being piled on Jacob…in the garage…in various positions. _Ugh, what's wrong with me?_

It also didn't help that Jake was giving me the skink-eye the whole drive there. It was like he was watching my every move. What did he think? I was going to jump Riley's bones just to get back at him? When I'd catch him looking at me, I'd just raise my eyebrows and look away.

As our large group piled into the front door of _Bella Italia_, I saw the Forks crowd walking down the sidewalk towards us. I waved them down so they'd know we were there. But it's not like you could miss all the gigantic Quileute's anyway.

We were seated in the party room at the back of the restaurant where we were guaranteed privacy and a big enough space to accommodate us all. Jacob made an extra effort to not sit beside me again, which initially pissed me off. But he made for damn sure he snagged the seat beside Rosalie, who was wearing an extremely low cut blouse that had her double D's staring at the entire room. And when I say entire room, I mean I think everyone there was trying to avoid eye contact with them.

Riley pulled my seat out for me and sat himself down on my left. Edward settled in on my right. For some reason I had the feeling I had been set up from the glances I got from Alice and Leah every few minutes. Yet I still received glares from Jake, even though he sat beside the Playboy Bunny wannabe.

I pulled out my camera, ready to take candid shots of everyone throughout the night. Unfortunately, I held it for three whole seconds before Alice jerked it out of my hand and marveled and how cool it was. She then designated herself the "official picture taker," leaving me put out because I was hoping to be on the other side of the lens the whole night.

We all carried on general conversation about work and school. Most everyone was interested in the garage, especially Rosalie. What kind of bombshell blonde likes cars anyway? I had a feeling she'd like to get her hands on a throttle that wasn't in a car by the way her hand would constantly brush against Jacob's bicep when she laughed. Emmett found it sexy that I knew things about cars, which made me feel good…until Jake ruined it by telling them how I got oil sprayed in my face the other week when I was working on a particular nasty job.

_Thanks asshole._

"I'm sure you pulled it off just fine," Riley said as he smiled and elbowed me playfully.

"Yeah, brown is definitely my color," I joked back, which made a few people at the table laugh. It didn't escape my notice that Jacob's eyes zeroed in on the proximity of Riley and I. Oh well, he had had his chance. Now maybe it was time for me to have some fun…at his expense, of course.

Edward seemed uninterested in joining in any conversation. His eyes pretty much stayed glued to his plate most of the night. I noticed Alice whisper to him every so often and I caught her glancing at me a few times whilst doing so. Edward would just nod his head like he was following directions, hardly ever whispering back to her.

"Have you started researching for our English paper?" Riley asked.

I shook my head as I took a bite of my food. "No, not yet. I haven't really had time, but I'll probably start sometime next week after school."

"I haven't started mine either, so if you want, maybe we could get together and work on it."

I smiled and blushed slightly because I could feel the heat of the gazes around me of those who could hear this conversation.

I nodded. "That'd be great. I'm not completely sure where to start. Maybe both our brains can make some sense out of it."

"Hopefully," he laughed. I had never realized how cute he was until that moment. His smile reached his eyes like Jake's did when he was truly happy. His dark, spiky faux hawk and blue eyes would probably be any girl's dream, so why hadn't I noticed them before? Most likely because I was too caught up with Jacob to care, but that was going to change.

Dessert was served and the wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to me while my friends attempted to sing along. The cake was extremely good, but the antics from Rosalie made me want to throw it back up. She'd get icing on her finger and attempt to lick it off in what I assume was a seductive manner. And Jake was practically drooling in his plate, his eyes flitting between her mouth and her cleavage. It made me physically sick to see such idiocy.

When the bill was paid and everyone was ready to go, I happily made my way out of the restaurant, ready to get away from the live porn show that was Rosalie. After thanking everyone for celebrating my birthday with me, I climbed into the back of Leah's car with Riley behind me. I saw Jake walking towards the car too when Rosalie's polished hand stopped him. I saw her whisper something in his ear and he nodded.

He resumed walking towards the car, but instead of getting in, he ducked his head in. "Rose's giving me a ride home. See you guys later."

I'll admit that it hurt a little to know he was taking a ride home from a busty, attractive blonde that was going a half hour out of her way to take him where the rest of us could easily go. But the thing that made my heart drop into my stomach was the fact that Jake wouldn't even look me in the eye as he told us this. I had a feeling the roller coaster ride that was Jake and Bells was about to head down a pretty dangerous path. A path that lead to no return.

I was distracted the whole way home and barely heard anything Riley was trying to say to me. I think he noticed my mind was somewhere else because eventually he ended up talking to Sam about the upcoming football games.

I mumbled a hollow goodbye as I got out of the car and ignoring the concerned stares, I made my way across the gravel. As I turned the key in the lock, Rosalie's red convertible whipped into the Black's front yard. Before I had to witness anything that would scar me for life, I hurriedly crossed the threshold and slammed the front door.

As I walked down the hall, I could hear the faint murmur of sound coming from Charlie's television in his room. Instead of heading straight to my room, I sped to the bathroom and immediately began taking off all of my clothes. A scalding hot shower was what it would take to wash this night and all its remnants off of me.

As the steam swirled around me and I felt the water burn my skin, my thoughts wandered back to the living room before Jacob and I had began fighting. I felt like if only I had kept my mouth shut to begin with, maybe this whole mess could have been avoided. That was when the tears began to fall. At first I didn't realize I was crying, but when the sobs threatened to overtake me, I knew this shower was a mistake.

The hot water burned me like Jake's hands did when he touched me. The thick fog around me shortened my breaths just like his mere presence tended to do. I quickly turned the water off before I could think of anymore cheesy analogies between a hot shower and Jacob Black.

_I really don't think this is healthy._

As I got ready for bed, my eyes avoided my window even though the curtains were closed. I knew just outside of it, only a few feet away, was the guy I had just shed tears over…and he was with another girl…doing God knows what.

After fighting myself for ten minutes, I lay down in my bed with my back to my window. At first all I heard was silence and the still dull murmur of Charlie's TV, but after so long I couldn't deny it anymore. I heard it. A giggle. Constant giggles. Constant, annoying giggles coming from my window.

I threw off my covers and walked over to take a closer look. My hands shook as I peeked through a very small crack between the blinds and almost fell over from the shock of what I saw. For the umpteenth time that night, I felt a weight drop in my stomach.

There was Jake, shirtless, standing in the middle of his room with his arms wrapped around a flustered Rosalie. Her blouse was unbuttoned and his finger glided down her cleavage until I couldn't see it anymore. I watched as she nibbled his neck and watched as her hands ran along his abs, _my_ abs.

The betrayal and hurt I felt hit an all time high and I numbly walked back to bed. I stared at my ceiling, no longer hearing any kind of sound around me, no longer caring what was going on around me. I guess that was my way of accepting. Accepting that it was really over. How could I be with someone after seeing them do that?

After an unknown period of time, headlights washed over my room and I assumed it was Rosalie leaving for the night. I fleetingly wondered if she was leaving satisfied or not, which made me nauseous to even think about the answer.

"Bells."

I sat up straight in my bed. The whisper came unexpectedly from my left. From outside my window.

"Bells," Jake said again. Obviously it was him. "I know you're awake. I just want to talk."

I made no move toward him.

"I can't go to sleep knowing you're mad at me. I want everything to be okay between us. Don't shut me out."

"Leave me alone," I whispered, hoping he could hear me.

There was a pause. "Did you say something?" he asked.

I huffed and once again threw the covers off of me. I opened the curtains, pulled up the blinds, and squatted so we were face to face looking at each other through the glass.

"I said 'leave me alone.'"

"You don't mean that," he countered.

"Why don't I?"

"You hate going to bed mad just as much as I do."

"Well, I also hate being played like a fool, but sometimes there's not much you can do about it."

"I didn't play you like a fool, Bella. I'm sorry if you think that, but you're wrong."

"I _really_ don't think I am."

"You are. You mean a lot to me. I wish you'd realize that."

"How am I supposed to realize that?" I asked.

"I didn't give you that bracelet just because you're my next door neighbor, Bella."

I glanced down at the bracelet and my heart melted, but then hurt when I remembered what I had just saw. "Well you probably just gave Rosalie a little gift of your own as well, so I'm assuming you care a lot about her too?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I barely know her," he said defensively.

"So you take rides from people you barely know? You invite people you barely know into your bedroom?"

He quickly looked to the ground, ashamed. "Can you please open this window so I don't have to talk to you through glass?"

"Do you really think you deserve that?" I asked.

"I don't think I deserve for you to treat me like this."

"Maybe not, but I'm probably still a little pissed that I had a front row seat to you running your hands all over Rosalie's boobs while she practically had you half naked."

"You saw that?" he said surprised.

"Oh did you think someone had installed one-way glass in your bedroom where only you could see out but nobody could see in?" I asked sarcastically.

"I just wasn't thinking…" he began.

"Oh, you were thinking all right. Just not with your head."

"I was just mad, okay?"

"Mad? I'm mad, but you don't see anybody else in my room, do you?"

A long silence followed and I wasn't sure what to say next. Jake's face was towards the ground and I hoped he wasn't crying. I just stared at the top of his head until he raised his face to me and all I saw was determination.

"Open the window, Bella." His voice was even and full of authority. My brain was saying no, but I couldn't deny him anything when he sounded like that.

I reached up and unlocked the window. When I didn't make any move to open it, Jake slid his fingers under the edges and slid it open. He went to lift himself onto the sill and his face was suddenly bathed in the faint light from my room.

I placed my hands on his shoulders and stopped his movements.

"Get the fuck out of my room," I growled.

He looked at me puzzled. "What the hell?"

Obviously he had never heard me use that kind of language. _I_ hadn't even heard myself use that kind of language. Maybe I should explain myself.

"I'd say the hickey on your neck and the pink lipstick smeared on your face is grounds enough to deny you anything I deem necessary."

And with that, I slammed the window in his face.

Even though I still went to bed mad that night, I was proud that I could deny Jacob Black if I wanted to. Obviously he thought I had made a compelling argument too considering I didn't hear another peep from him that night.

As I lay in bed trying to stop my mind from reeling for just a few seconds so I could fall asleep, my eyes landed on my bracelet as my arm lie across my pillow. No doubt it had cost him a good amount of money to buy this and an even more amount of time to come up with such a thoughtful gift. Yet here I was, broken-hearted, with nothing but the bracelet to remind me that he may care about me deep down.

**Who's mad? Who's sad? Who's...hopeful? LOL. Who saw that coming? Hehe. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me so far and is continuing to read. Also, I wanna apologize to feebes86 who sent me a great challenge after last chapter and I failed to find a place to put the quote she gave me in this chapter, BUT I'm determined to use it! So you will see it :) I'm still open to any ideas you guys may have or anything you've been dying to see in a fanfic. I haven't been able to find any good Jacob/Bella fics lately on here so help me out if you have any suggestions. Hopefully, my workload is depleting so I'll have spare time to work on my story, _hopefully _being the key word. Talk to you guys soon!**


	16. Chapter 16 Jake's Side

**Words cannot even express how completely and utterly sorry I am for taking so long to update. I would have of course understood if I woke up to a mob on my front lawn lashing at me for how careless and lazy I'd been these past few months. The update is, I got a new job, and I have just been so busy with RL that my story just got lost in all the confusion. I want to thank my beta _jenniper_ for always being willing to help and giving her honest opinion in each one of my chapters. I'm hoping to never take this long to update again. I know this is a long time coming, but here's the next chapter. And thanks to those who continue reading, I hope this doesn't disappoint. **

Chapter 16

**Jacob's POV**

Bella Swan would be my demise, no doubt. I had spent my early childhood following her around and secretly dubbing her the prettiest girl I would ever meet. Apparently, nothing much had changed since then. I still found myself staring at her even when we were surrounded by a crowd of people or making excuses to strike up a conversation with her. Some would call it obsession; I just called it a healthy interest.

Who was I kidding? I was a sick puppy.

I was happy to jump at the chance to help her move her stuff from Charlie's old house, but didn't realize that in the process, random dudes would just hit on her out of nowhere. We all went out for an innocent breakfast at Sue's and I walked up on Emmett McCarty showing Bella his dimpled smile. And to top it off, she didn't show any signs of telling him to back off. Of course he could get any girl he wanted, but fresh meat was always the best to jocks. Excluding myself, obviously.

At first, I thought my actions could be blamed on the fact that we practically grew up together and I was interested in getting to know the person she had become. While this was true, I still felt this gravitational pull towards her, which I mistakenly mistook at first as some big brother instinct to protect her. I found out _that_ was bullshit when I started reacting physically towards her. Yeah I admit that I had spent more than a few nights alone in my bedroom with the door very much secure thinking about Bella, but her effect on me went further than just the random hard-on.

On those afternoons where it was just me and her at my house, it seemed like the world revolved around us. We made sundaes, watched movies, played games, and not once did I feel uncomfortable in her presence. Well, except for the time I let it slip that my mom had joked about us getting married. Bella had tensed up and I had felt like such a douche for admitting that to her. But when I got to show her all the pictures that my mom had taken of us before she passed away, it felt like it solidified our relationship a little more. It was kind of like we knew there would always be a special bond there, one that no one or nothing could touch.

When I clasped her hand that day at the cliffs, it made my stomach clench that her tiny hand seemed to fit so perfectly in my gigantic one. It could have been my imagination, but I was sure she realized it too. That was also the first of many times that I realized my reactions to Bella were fueled by jealousy. She had jumped off with Embry after her turn with me and it took them a little too long to climb back up. His smile was also a little too big for my taste once they did reappear on the cliff. I made sure to give him the dirtiest look I could muster and it succeeded in wiping that idiot smirk off his face...for the time being at least.

Embry _knew_ my history with Bella; he _knew_ how I had looked forward to her visit this summer. The first day we saw her he jumped at the chance to talk to her first, which instantly pissed me off. I made up for it by being the first to make her blush. Man, she had never known what that did to me, and hopefully she'd never find out. Then she'd have even more power over me. But yet, Embry was still treating her like any other girl on the rez. Even at the cookout he sweet talked her and acted like the perfect gentleman. It made me sick. If I had anything to do with it, he wouldn't get very far.

It didn't surprise me that she fit in so well with our group. She had always been very easygoing and not at all girly, so when she nailed the drums on Rock Band, I was impressed, but still not completely surprised. Just thinking about that night still made me wonder what Quil had seemed so shady about when he returned from the kitchen to look for Embry and Bella. He said they were just looking for ice, but he was such a bad liar that I knew better. What had he seen?

When Bells sprained her ankle, it took all the restraint I had not to break down her front door when I saw Embry's car parked outside of her house while she was home alone. I could just see him hovering over her small frame, taking advantage of the situation. Again, it made me sick. But even more, it made me mad that I couldn't exactly do anything about it. I couldn't just barge in unwelcome and walk in on God knows what.

Or could I?

Thankfully, during the inner battle I was having with myself, a miracle happened Charlie showed up. My internal fist pump could probably convey how elated I was to see that black cruiser slide in the driveway. I watched from my kitchen window as Charlie vacated his car and shot a questioning look towards the unknown car in his yard. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. If I couldn't throw Embry out, I knew this man would.

No more than ten minutes later, Embry exited the house looking like a frightened dog. Luckily, I was leaned against his car waiting for him.

_Well, not lucky for him._

"'Sup, man?" He looked at me with a weary face, like he wasn't sure how to answer me. Or whether to answer me at all.

"Uhh...n-nothing much. Going back to work," he stuttered out. I inwardly rolled my eyes at his cowardice. My theory is if you're going to do something ballsy, you should have enough balls to do it and take responsibility for doing it in the first place. Apparently, he didn't have enough balls to back up the ballsy move he had made by coming here.

"You taking a lunch break?"

"Yeah?" Ahh, the answer that sounds like a question. That was the tale-tell sign I was freaking him out by acting so nonchalant.

"What're you doing _here_?"

"Just seeing how Bella was feeling." He walked past me like he was trying to end this conversation. Little did he know, it was far from over.

"You know, if people see you guys here alone, they may get the wrong idea about you two."

"I don't care what people think." Ohhh, _now_ he was getting defensive.

"Well, _she_ might, so I suggest you don't ruin her reputation before she even gets one."

That was the point in time where my supposed big brother gene was in full force. I didn't realize at the time that it was my jealousy pushing me to say everything. Deep down, I knew I wanted it to be me alone with her in that house.

Embry rolled his eyes. "You're reading way too much into this. It's not even like that."

"Oh really? It's not like that for _either_ of you? She's not one of these skanks you've been known to take home lately."

"Like I said, it's not like that," he argued.

"You better hope to hell it's not like that because you'll have more than just Charlie to answer to." And with that, I gave him my most threatening look to show how serious I was, pushed off his car, and walked away.

When I thought Bella was leaving at the end of the summer, I made sure to work extra hard on her truck so we could present it to her before she left. I knew she wanted to be here rather than back in Phoenix where she felt like she didn't belong. I did my best to try to set her roots here so she'd feel more comfortable staying. I offered her a "job" to work with me in the garage to begin with. I'd like to say it wasn't for my own selfish reasons but it let me spend more time with her and she was so cute when she got frustrated. We gave her the truck which couldn't be taken back to Phoenix since it was so far a drive and I did my best to show her how great all our friends were.

I really thought Embry had ruined my plan when he ditched her at the movie theater. I thought Bella would just run all the way back to Phoenix just to avoid the humiliation, but she surprised me. Although, the company she kept that night didn't thrill me. I once again saw McCarty flirting her up when she came back in from the intermission. That dude really needed to back off. Edward turned out to be an alright guy, but the way he hungrily looked at Bella when she wasn't looking made me grip onto the hand rests to keep from smacking him.

I'll never forget the day in the garage when she admitted that she had a date later that night. I had been planning on surprising her and taking her to the carnival they were having, but lo and behold, Captain Dimples was taking her instead. Even though I knew she had to make her own mistakes, it still bugged me that she was going out with a guy who had supposedly slept with the whole Forks cheerleading squad. After our squabble that day, I had laid in bed restless that night thinking about how I had hurt her feelings. I had no say over her life or who she decided to let in it, so I dropped my pride and apologized for being such a dick.

On the night before Bella was supposed to leave, I did my best to put on a happy face and enjoy my last moments with her. I could tell it was all too much for her and once she left the beach, I followed, but went to my house to sulk and shed a few tears for the best friend I was losing just like those many years ago. Unfortunately, she decided to send a text informing me she was staying and in my misery, I chose to not answer the phone, thinking it was one of the guys. When my ears picked up loud music from next door, I pulled myself out of my self-induced coma and checked my phone. Her text sent me barreling out of my house with no recollection of what I was wearing or how I looked.

After finding her hiding out in the bathroom (no doubt, my doing) I convinced her to let me in. When she confirmed her decision to stay, I couldn't help but envelope her in my arms. But that night was the start of something I had never felt before. It felt like there was a fire between us that needed to be quenched. When she admitted that she would have missed me, I pushed her against the wall, hoping against all hope that she'd quench what I was feeling. My breath was coming quickly and when she touched my chest, I thought I'd explode. I kissed her, there was no other solution. Her lips on mine were pure heaven. Bella's decision to stay brightened up my entire world it seemed. I couldn't comprehend that she'd be around all the time now. At home, in the garage, at school. It was just too much, but in a good way. I think the overwhelming feeling of us not having to part was the main reason behind our bathroom fiasco. Although it did hurt when she referred to what we did as "stupid." Yet I shrugged it off and willed my hard-on away like any other decent human being.

The morning after, I noticed several Bella-made scratches displayed across my back. Not wanting to keep them to myself, I wore a shirt that flaunted them right in front of her face. The main reason was to show her what I did to her, but watching her squirm was just as good. I didn't want to admit that I hoped that things would escalate between us, but I thought deep down this would open some doors. It seemed to have the opposite effect.

McCarty had asked her out _again_. I thought with what had happened between us, she would have given up on that prick. But I knew once she got around the big crowd that Emmett deemed as friends, she'd revert to her old Bella tendencies. Meeting new people and being the center of attention was not her forte. She had no idea what she was walking into. Meeting them at the concession stand had been an obvious bonus, but unfortunately McCarty was some kind of saint. I couldn't get a rise out of him for nothing.

Bella may have thought she was fooling me, but I noticed how she glanced my way during the movie from Emmett's truck. And maybe I flirted it up a little more than usual just to make her mad. She was on a damn date, who was she to judge? I made sure to leave soon after they did so I could keep somewhat of an eye on them, but that bit me in the ass when I had to watch that joker kiss her like he was in some sort of Lifetime movie. But what burnt me up the most was when she waved that smart-ass wave of hers before she walked inside.

I decided to take the high road and not dwell on the kiss I had witnessed. Bella didn't seem willing to talk about it either. When I asked her about McCarty, she sort of skirted around the issue, but I knew they hadn't been seeing each other. Facebook confirmed that McCarty was still single and he had been spending most days either working or practicing for the upcoming football season. I wasn't going to apologize for doing some research, and to my defense, I only checked it once a day.

I had been dying for some alone time with Bella, some that didn't consist of friends or the garage, so I invited her to the beach with me. It was a big step because that's where I kept in touch with my mom. I felt like if I could share that with someone, it would be Bella. She loved my mom just about as much as I did, and I knew she'd have things to say to her. I loved hearing all the memories she had of my mom. Some I didn't initially remember, but once they resurfaced, I wondered how I had ever forgotten.

The laughter that rang through our bodies was comforting to say the least. I couldn't remember when I had ever had so much fun, so I told her that. I could feel she was avoiding looking at me, so I hovered over her so she'd have nowhere else to look. That's all it took for us to see there was something in the other that we longed for.

I asked her what she was thinking, hoping she could unscramble the mess my brain had become. Bella, my once sister, my best friend, was more than that. I knew that now. I just didn't know what she was to me. We had been raised as family but those lines had been blurred once she stepped back on the reservation. No one saw this coming, not even me. Charlie had asked me to make her feel at home while she was here, but here I was, somehow defiling the trust of the man who had been like a second father to me. What would Chief Swan think if he knew the thoughts running through my head now?

"We shouldn't do this," I whispered to her, although I was hoping she wouldn't listen. Even though my mouth spoke this, my heart and my body screamed to opposite.

"I know," she replied as she laid her hand on my chest. Her body language and her mouth were conflicting as well.

I whispered my fears of Charlie and Billy and she shared them as well. I knew nothing would ever go back to being the same, and did I want that? Did I want to put on the line everything we had worked for this summer? Our friendship, our garage, our time together? But what if it turned out to be worth the risk?

"I don't want to ruin what we have," I admitted.

"It's just us. We can pretend it never happened, if you want," she said.

I didn't _want_ to pretend it never happened. If something happened, I'd want to remember it the rest of my life. Consequences be damned, this was Bella _freakin__'_ Swan, and I'd be stupid to pass up this chance.

"Do you want me to touch you?" I knew the answer already from the way her body shook beside mine. She was high on adrenaline and hormones, that's for sure. But it was always polite to ask, right?

"Only if you want to." _Ahh__Bella,__always__so__noncommittal.__We__'__ll__see__how__that__works__tonight._

The rest of the night seemed almost a blur. It was a whirlwind of emotion, hesitancy, and awkwardness. So obviously it was the best night of my life to date. You can't go wrong when a hot girl compliments your penis and you give her the first orgasm of her life. No way of losing there.

Even though we promised nothing would be different when school started the next day, she gave me the silent treatment for most of the ride there. Thankfully, when I walked into English class, Bella was there. I would have hated to go all day without seeing her. I made sure to smile to let her know I wanted everything to be fine. The ride to school was still making my stomach churn with nerves. Hopefully, I was reading too much into her silence.

I had to grip the edges of my desk to keep from punching Stevens in the face for most of the class. I watched as he leaned over (quite often, I might add) to whisper something to Bella, sometimes even making her laugh. It would have been safe to say that my blood pressure was shooting through the roof. It was possibly these emotions that led me to meet Bella at her locker straight after class. Her reassurances and the sight of my own personal brand on her neck made my pants feel a little tighter, but other than that, all was well.

But mostly the day went by typically. Classes, meeting up with friends, turning down desperate girls, you know the usual. I'll definitely admit that I showed off a little more than usual at football practice knowing that Bella was watching. It was fueled mostly by the fact that I knew she was physically attracted to me so I wanted to show her what I was capable of. It also may have had something to do with the fact that I knew that Embry walked her down to the football stadium, but I tried to push passed that tidbit of information.

Seeing her waiting by my car after practice made me want to get her home that much quicker. All thoughts of jealousy that she had walked down to the field with Embry went away, because she was waiting for _me_, not him.I thought we'd have a good conversation on the way home about our first days, maybe make out a little in the garage later, but those plans flew out the window when we launched into an argument about some petty girl who made a comment to Bella about me. The argument wasn't something I enjoyed, but she was actually pretty sexy when she was mad at me. We ended up making up in the cab of her truck though, so the day wasn't a complete loss.

As Bella's birthday weekend grew closer, I struggled to find the perfect gift. She meant a lot to me, but I couldn't express it in words…obviously. Lately, our relationship had become strained and we barely spoke about anything other than the garage or school. I tried to show her I still wanted her through actions, but nothing seemed to work.

I had planned to give her the present I had bought her at dinner in front of all our friends, but once I found out that Stevens had been invited, my plans changed. I felt like he was interfering in our lives, like he was an outsider intruding on our group. Stupid, I know.

I showed up at Bella's house before everyone arrived to present her with the gift. I picked up on the awe she emanated as she took in my appearance. Yeah, I cleaned up pretty well. I returned the favor and raked her body with my eyes. Damn, I wanted to see what she was wearing underneath that dress. Maybe if tonight went well enough, I would. Who was I kidding? It would have to go _extremely_ well for that to happen.

All sexual thoughts were driven out of my mind as she opened the tiny box I gave her and I attached the bracelet around her wrist. I hadn't touched her in what seemed like forever, and the mere brushing of our hands had my heart racing. I tried to talk to her, I tried to make things better, but just like lately, I couldn't get through it seemed. I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Why do I feel like there's a wall between us?" I blurted out. I wanted to know. I wanted my Bella back.

"Probably because there is," she answered, looking down.

"Can I ask why?"

"I just think we tried to take it too far. Everything was fine before and we screwed it up by letting our physical connection take over."

"Are you saying you regret it now?" My voice cracked embarrassingly. I was letting my emotions leak through. Anger and hurt. They seemed to coincide these days.

"No, of course not. It's just that things don't always turn out how we expect them to."

"Did I do something wrong?" _Wow, did I sound like a pussy or what?_

"I just…" She paused and my heart almost beat out of my chest. "I just think we didn't complement each other well. We want and expect different things out of each other."

_So was I not good enough now? _"So are you saying I can't give you what you want?" I pushed myself up from the floor trying to distance myself away.

She jumped up as well. "That's not what I'm saying at all! I think it's more along the lines of I can't give you what _you_ want." Her voice was growing louder and higher, which meant this was about to turn ugly.

_What I want? She has no idea what I want. What does she _think_ I want? _"Is this about sex? Because I haven't even brought up the subject!" Of course it was on my mind, I was a teenage guy, but I had _never_ pushed the subject.

"What? No!"

"I don't understand, Bells. Ever since we started school, you've been acting distant and quiet like there's…" I stopped short. My mind was racing, mostly going in circles, putting images together. Her laughing, whispering in class, and then it dawned on me. "Is there someone else?" My fingernails were digging into my palms as my fists drew tighter and tighter.

"Are you serious? Who else would there be?"

"You and Stevens seem to be pretty close lately," I accused.

"Riley? You've got to be kidding me." She shook her head denying it, but I wasn't convinced.

"There's something up and I want to know what." If it wasn't Stevens, then it had to be _something._ Things like this didn't just change overnight.

"Fine, I'll tell you! It's the simple fact that you flirt with all these pathetic girls in school right in front of my face! Is that good enough for you?"

I felt my jaw drop. That was the furthest thing from my mind. I didn't expect that to be why she had given me the cold shoulder this whole time. She completely misconstrued whatever she called flirting. Didn't she realize she surpassed every other girl at that school?

"I don't flirt with anybody!" was my only retort.

"Oh, whatever. If I winked as much as you do, people would think I have a nervous twitch."

"Fine." I held my hands up in defeat. This whole thing felt like a cop-out to me. Just some bullshit reason to get rid of me because she didn't want to admit the real one. "You want it that way, then that's how it'll be. We'll just be friends, but don't come crying to me when you change your mind."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Those four words felt like Bella had stuck a knife in me.

The drive to the restaurant was torture. I could smell her and feel the heat off of her, but my anger overshadowed the boner that threatened to show up. Once we arrived, I learned that she had invited those Forks friends of hers. Luckily the busty blonde took an interest in my biceps, so I took this chance to make Bella see what she was missing.

I snagged a seat beside Rosalyn…no, Rosalie at dinner. Her constant stroking of my arms and her interest in the garage was extra fuel to the fire that was Bella. I could tell she was jealous. It served her right. I felt like I had offered her more than I had ever offered anyone before and she had thrown it right in my face.

Rosalie did a good job by keeping my mind occupied at least. Her constant teasing and her conspicuous cleavage served as an okay distraction. Ready to get back home, I was happy when it was time to leave. As I made my way to the car, Rosalie stopped me.

"How about I give you a ride home in my car?" she said seductively in my ear.

I nodded and told the others, including Bella, that Rose would give me a ride home. Being the coward I was, I didn't even look Bella in the eyes as I told them. I knew if I did, I'd be able to see how she felt and I didn't want to know. What right did she have to care? She's the one who had told me we were no more. She's the one who had ended whatever we had, not me.

The ride in the small, red sports car was mostly awkward. I had no idea who this girl was; she had no idea who I was. What I did find out was that she wasn't the least bit shy. About halfway home, she had grabbed my hand and placed it down her shirt onto her left breast. She had no problem telling me what she wanted and going after it. While my hand was busy with the left one, she pulled my head down to attach my mouth to the right one. Normally, when a girl came at me like this, I retreated. But tonight, my anger was driving my actions. Or was it some sick sort of retribution?

When we pulled into my driveway, she invited herself inside and I quietly led her to my bedroom. She giggled girlishly as I shut the door.

"I love sneaking into rooms, there's something so forbidden about it," she said in a sickly sweet tone. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, so I just nodded and gave her a half smile.

She pulled me over to her and kissed me straight on the mouth. She was a horrible kisser. All I could taste was her waxy lipstick and all I could smell was the makeup she coated her face with. I wanted to puke. I pulled my face away and she went for the hem of my shirt. She giggled some more as she rubbed along my abs. I repaid the favor by running my hand down her cleavage again. Thankfully she attached her lips to my neck now instead of my mouth again.

In the midst of my indiscretion, I glanced up and saw the curtains of Bella's room swaying. She must be home. I would have rather been over there in that room than in my room with this chick. I couldn't do this.

"We've got to stop," I croaked out.

She giggled _again._ "We will, eventually."

I pulled her away from my neck. It was like detaching a leach. "No," I said firmly. "You need to go."

She huffed and whirled around. She swung open my door and stomped through the house. After slamming my front door, I heard her car spin gravel in the drive as she sped away.

After throwing my shirt back on, I climbed out my window towards my Bella. I needed to talk to her. I couldn't sleep knowing things were so messed up between us. After tapping on her window a few times, I convinced her to pull the blinds up and acknowledge me. I knew she hated going to bed with so much on her mind, so I used that as the main excuse for me coming over.

"Well, I also hate being played like a fool, but sometimes there's not much you can do about it," she snapped back.

"I didn't play you like a fool, Bella. I'm sorry if you think that, but you're wrong." It hurt to know that she thought I was capable of doing that to her.

"I _really_ don't think I am."

"You are. You mean a lot to me. I wish you'd realize that." I also wished she would realize that it was hard for me to open up to her like this, but I was running out of options now.

"How am I supposed to realize that?" I asked.

"I didn't give you that bracelet just because you're my next door neighbor, Bella."

She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist and I could have sworn I saw a certain softness come over her. It quickly went away. "Well you probably just gave Rosalie a little gift of your own as well, so I'm assuming you care a lot about her, too?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I barely know her." Rosalie could never compare to Bella in any way, shape, or form.

"So you take rides from people you barely know? You invite people you barely know into your bedroom?"

She had me here. I was ashamed of my actions and I know I should have had better judgment. "Can you please open this window so I don't have to talk to you through glass?"

"Do you really think you deserve that?" she asked.

"I don't think I deserve for you to treat me like this." That was a lie. I deserved to be stoned in the street for what I'd done tonight.

"Maybe not, but I'm probably still a little pissed that I had a front row seat to you running your hands all over Rosalie's boobs while she practically had you half naked."

I think my heart may have actually stopped. How could I have been so careless as to leaving my window completely uncovered?

"You saw that?" I asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer.

"Did you think someone had installed one-way glass in your bedroom where only you could see out but nobody could see in?"

"I just wasn't thinking…" I began.

"Oh, you were thinking all right. Just not with your head."

"I was just mad, okay?" I tried to defend myself, but it was no use.

"Mad? I'm mad, but you don't see anybody else in my room, do you?"

She had a point. I looked at the ground, feeling like I didn't deserve the girl in front of me, feeling like I had possibly ruined everything that I had hoped to build with her these past few months. How could I let this happen? I _couldn't_ let this happen. I wouldn't just roll over and give up. This girl was worth fighting for. I needed to show her and tell her how I felt.

"Open the window, Bella." I knew she could tell I was serious.

I heard her unlatch the window and I pushed it up. I lifted myself onto the sill, but she placed her hands on my shoulders and stopped me.

"Get the fuck out of my room," she growled.

I had _never_ heard her use this kind of language with me. I didn't understand. She had just invited me into her room, and now she was taking it back.

"What the hell?" I asked, dumbstruck.

"I'd say the hickey on your neck and the pink lipstick smeared on your face is grounds enough to deny you anything I deem necessary."

The window being slammed in my face wasn't even the worst part. It was the look of anguish on my Bella's face. I had been so anxious to get over there that I had neglected what I may look like after Rosalie had put her hands on me. Again, how could I have been so stupid?

Now I had even more to make up for, but I wasn't giving up without a fight.

I decided to give Bella the rest of the weekend to cool off. I spent countless hours in front of my bathroom mirror trying all sorts of remedies to lighten and eventually get rid of the hideous hickeys that the blond left. I also lost count of the number of times I almost picked up my phone to text Bella or peeked out my window just to see if I could catch a glimpse of her. I had never before been so anxious for a Monday to roll around.

Monday was Bella's birthday and even though the celebration with our friends was over, I wasn't going to let it pass without doing a little something for her on my own. I pondered and planned all weekend and finally came up with the perfect day for her. Getting her to agree to participate in it was a whole other problem in itself.

After Charlie left his house Monday morning, I made my way over and waited on the porch steps. I was hoping that taking her by surprise would be the better option. My heart beat roughly against my ribs as I heard her footsteps near the front door and the doorknob turn.

I heard her footsteps falter as she exited the house. She was probably forming a getaway plan. This thought made me chuckle a little.

"What's so damn funny?" she asked from behind me. Her cussing made me smile. It was like watching a butterfly try to act like an eagle. It was cute, but they couldn't pull it off.

I turned slowly around and took in her slender frame leaning against the door jam. "Unless your extreme and completely understandable anger has made you lose track of time, I came over to remind you that today's your birthday." I stood up and took a few steps towards her.

"Oh, you mean the show you put on for me the other night wasn't my birthday present?" she said with her hand over her chest feigning surprise. "Because I don't see how you'll top that one." She rolled her eyes and tried to skirt past me, but I side-stepped in front of her.

"Excuse me, I have to get to school," she snapped.

"You're not going to school today birthday girl," I said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not skipping, especially with the likes of you." She poked me hard in the chest.

"The 'likes of me?' Did we just transport into some old western? Come on, who says that?" I laughed.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, which coincidentally pushed her breasts up right into my line of view. Bella cleared her throat and my eyes snapped back up to hers. The small smirk that she was attempting to hide didn't fool me. She liked knowing that I liked looking at her.

Ugh, she wasn't playing fair…and I liked it. I had a feeling today was going to be a day to remember in years to come.

"Go get your sneakers on little lady, 'cause this is gonna be the best day of your life."

**Good news: I have started on the next chapter already. I haven't finished so if you want to give me some input on what you'd like to see happen on Bella's birthday, I'd be happy to consider writing it in. Thanks again for reading :)**


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